The Bond of the Veela
by tLoD
Summary: A Veela's Mate is determined at birth. And Fleur Delacour grows up sensing the pain and sadness of her one and only love. So when she finally finds him, she will do anything for him to love her back. Fleur Delacour/Harry Potter, starts 4th year (GoF).
1. Prologue

**AN: A while back I was reading this awesome Fanfic called **_**Hers and Hers Alone **_**by ****O ni kai****, unfortunately he hasn't updated it since 2015. I thought about his concept and realized it made a lot of sense on an evolutionary stand point. It kind of stayed in my head and… morphed. So, I decided to make my own version of it. This is ****NOT**** a continuation to **_**Hers and Hers Alone**_**, the story will go in a completely different direction.**

To those of you who don't know, the Veela are an all-female race of demi-humans, known for their divine beauty and affinity with fire. Ask anyone and they'll tell you Veela are beautiful, deadly and some would even say cursed. For due to one of their innate ability, 'allure', Veela must constantly restrain themselves lest they turn everyone around them into blubbering fools, or worse, violent ones. This process is exhausting and very uncomfortable to the Veela, and because of this so they can only be themselves around other veela or wizards resistant to their ability. This cause Veela to exclusively marry wizards resistant to their abilities. Unfortunately, only one in a thousand wizards is born with a resistance to Veela allure.

Therefore, you would think the Veela are cursed to remain celibate unless by some miracle they found a wizard with allure resistance. But you would be wrong, for nature would not allowed such a flawed species to exist without a way to counter-balance such an obstacle to basic survival. And so, at birth a Veela bonds with a 'Mate' who is resistant to allure and whose presence they can sense when they come of age. Regardless of anything else, Veela are madly in love with their mates before even meeting them, and would immediately set out to find him at the age of seventeen, recognizing their mate the minute they set eyes on them. Despite all that however, it was important to note that the bond is completely one sided, and the mate has full freedom to reject the Veela that had bonded to him. When such a thing happened, the Veela in question would either become suicidal or obsessed with gaining their mate's affection.

Fleur Delacour was one such Veela and as such, at birth she instantly bonded with the soul of her Mate. However, for the first three years of her life, Fleur Delacour had been a calm child never whining or crying for anything. So much so in fact, that to an outsider it would seem as though she was waiting for something. Until one July night she had simply lit up and became a cheerful, fun-loving kid. Her parents had been quite pleased as it meant she had finally bonded with her mate's magic, signifying her mate was three years younger than herself. A little surprising, but hardly unusual. With each passing year they had been worried the age difference between her and her mate would be too big, but in the life of a wizard, three years was close to nothing.

It had been close to a year since the young Fleur had bonded with her mate's magic and her mother, Apolline Delacour, was teaching her to focus on her bond to feel her mate's emotions. Many believed the Veela could read their mates' thoughts. But that wasn't accurate, through their bond, a Veela could feel any unusually strong emotion coming from their Mate and by focusing could feel their mate's mundane day to day emotions. Fleur was happy to feel that her mate was both content and peaceful. But as she was about to stop focusing and tell her mother all was right. She suddenly felt overwhelming terror coming from her mate, soon followed incommensurable grief and sadness, then nothing. At that moment, the light began to drain from the young girl's eyes, she began to feel nothing but cold, as if all happiness was gone from the world, slowly she felt everything become pointless to her. Seeing her daughter's reaction, Apolline rushed to comfort her. But the young Delacour was unable to feel any warmth or comfort from her mother's embrace and simply murmured.

"_H-he's gone… I can't feel him…_"

As her daughter began to tear up, Apolline Delacour paled. There was only one thing that could break the bond between a Veela and her mate… death. When a Veela lost her mate, they would essentially become an empty husk, unable to feel any joy or happiness, they would quite simply lose the will to live. Some could hold on for a few weeks, sometimes a few months, rarely more than a year. As Apolline began to imagine the short but torturous existence her daughter would have before letting herself die, she felt Fleur's head perk up a beautiful smile blooming.

"_He's back! Maman, my mate's ok! … he's peaceful, but… sad"_

Relieved Apolline hugged her daughter while thanking every god that came to mind.

_13 years later_

In one of the rooms of a magical Carriage flying above England, sat an extremely beautiful young Veela by the name of Fleur Delacour. Like all students inside said carriage she had her own room and was excitedly looking out her window, despite the fact from the outside the carriage seemed to only have two windows.

The past few years hadn't been easy on Fleur. Not because the entire female population was jealous of her beauty, which was top-tier even among Veela. Not because of all the lecherous and lustful gazes she received, despite holding back her exceptionally strong allure. Not even because of the countless advances she had received from almost every student in the school, as if she would ever give them a second glance.

No, the past few years had been hard on her because of her mate. Oh, she still loved him more than life itself, but it had been difficult. Ever since she almost lost him when she was four, Fleur checked on her mate every night, every morning and anytime she could really. The first few years had been very hard.

Her mate was sad and depressed, he felt unloved, unwanted and like a waste of space. Fleur had wanted to tell him_ she _was there for him, that _she _needed him, that _she _loved him, but she couldn't. In the summer before third year however, she felt a sudden feeling of joy and hope from her mate. From then on, he was happy, content and felt accepted, despite a few spikes of fear in the night, which she mostly attributed to nightmares.

Until one night towards the end of the year where she felt the same overwhelming terror as she had 11 years ago, she had been terrified she would lose him again and had spent the whole night focusing on her bond to make sure he was still there. Thankfully, the next few days had been filled with happiness and joy from her mate. But as soon as summer started, he went back to being sad yet this time there was also hope.

The following year her mate had generally felt anxious as thought there was a threat looming, though he was globally happy, with the exception of a big feeling of betrayal that started around November and that persisted until another spike of overwhelming terror at the end of the year that gave the poor Veela another sleepless night. His summer had been the same as the last, save for another spike terror, but this time it was while she was on her way to Beauxbatons. The year started off great for her mate, until around Christmas where her mate had been consumed by sudden rage and murderous intent. She had half expected overwhelming terror at the end of the year, but instead she got a roller coaster of emotions from rage, to betrayal, to confusion, to happiness, to shock, to fear many of them conflicting and at the same time.

But this summer, Fleur had come of age and could finally sense her mate's presence. He was north! And had felt the same, annual, overwhelming terror on the night of the death eater attack on the world cup! This meant he was in Britain, and as she hadn't felt his presence shift too much it meant he still was! Taking into account his age and the fact he was a wizard it could only mean one thing: he attended Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, which was precisely where she was headed! Fate was on her side, she would win the tournament, impress him with her beauty, take him to the ball, make him happy, they would marry, and have lots of kids (unless he didn't want kids)! She had it all planned out and she could hardly wait!

She began to see the castle in the distance and jumped up from her seat, sticking her face to the window like a child. She could feel him getting closer! As the flying carriage approached the Scottish school, she saw a crowd of students gather. Immediately, her bond kicked in. It was as if all the other students had disappeared, and only _he _stood in the courtyard, waiting for her. He was _perfect,_ she thought. Tall, handsome, muscular but a bit skinny, with a mess of raven hair and piercing green eyes, like the killing curse.

She internally purred:

_I Found you..._

**AN: Needless to say I do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. Please Rate & Review.**


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival

**AN: Felt like continuing so you get the first chapter today! Aren't I a nice author? :)**

_Fleur POV_

As she got off the carriage, Fleur continuously fought her desire to rush over to her mate, hug him and never let go. She did her best to tear away her gaze but failed to do so for more than a few seconds.

The first thing Fleur noticed, was that he didn't stare lustfully at her like the rest of the gathered students, in fact he barely gave her a second glance. It was to be expected, only wizards with allure resistance qualified to bond with a Veela. Yet Fleur _wanted _him to stare, she _wanted_ him to be entranced by her. _He _was the only one she desired. But it mattered not, she had always been his, soon he would understand. She just needed to make him see it, and she would.

She reluctantly entered the castle with the delegation, leaving her mate behind. After a brief tour, they were given the afternoon to explore and get to know their foreign counterparts. Fleur took leave from her friends as soon as she could, and set to gather as much information on her mate as possible. It was quite easy, even while restraining her allure it was still strong enough to make people tell her whatever she wanted.

By dinner she already had a good idea of who her mate was. His name was Harry Potter, the famous 'Boy-Who-Lived', which explained what had happened 13 years ago. Her mate getting hit with a killing curse must have momentarily disrupted the bond. He had apparently been raised by muggles, explaining the sadness and depression he felt in his early years. In this school he was a member of Gryffindor house, and was also part of their Quidditch team. Depending on who you ask, Gryffindors are either brave and straightforward, or reckless and dumb. Needless to say, she strongly believed her mate to be the former. The information on his school years had been hectic to say the least, but she began to have a vague picture of what happened to her poor mate.

Of course, what really interested her were his relationships. He was best friends with a red-haired boy named Weasley who, from what she had heard, was not the sharpest tool in the box. In fact, his only apparent redeeming trait was his loyalty to Harry, which she was grateful for since it got her mate through some hard times. She also found out he was rivals with a ball-busting, blond mama's boy by the name of Draco Malfoy, who's life seemed to revolve around annoying her mate, enraging her to no end.

But more concerning, it seemed half the female population of this school had a crush on him. She had ranked them by threat. Of the mass of fangirls pinning for her mate, a certain Ginny Weasley was her only concern, mainly due to the access she had to Harry through her brother. There was also a Katie Bell, unlike the mass of fangirls she seemed to actually like Harry for him rather than his fame and was a fellow Gryffindor Quidditch teammate. Finally, of course, there was the one that came up most often and gave her the most cause for worry. Hermione Granger, a genius muggle-born, known to be Harry's second best friend, or real best friend according to some sources. From what she had heard, the girl was an insufferable, bossy know-it-all, but her mate seemed to enjoy her company which made her both a threat and an asset. Apparently, Harry battled a troll to save her life back in their first year, which made Fleur jealous beyond measure. Going by what a certain Lavender Brown had claimed, Hermione was in love with Harry but had been friend-zoned and lacked the self-confidence to get out of it.

As she entered the Great Hall with her delegation, she immediately began looking for Harry, when their eyes briefly met, she felt her heart was going to pop out of chest and quickly tore away her gaze for fear of embarrassing herself. Reminding herself of her investigation, she began looking for the girls that had raised flags. She easily found Ginny Weasley sitting a few places away from her mate. The girl was, in all honesty, no too bad, she had a pretty face and beautiful long red hair. Though she kept stealing glances at Harry when he wasn't looking. Katie Bell sat with the fifth-year students, she was a step higher than the Weasley girl when it came to looks, she had a beautiful face and chestnut hair she kept in a ponytail. Yet what set her apart was her forms, which were far more developed than the younger girl. Unlike Ginny, she didn't steal glances at Harry every chance she got, the only confirmation to her information being a wink she sent Harry when he looked over. And then, there was Hermione Granger, she was less attractive than the previous two, with bushy hair and buck teeth. But Fleur didn't let herself be lulled into confidence, for aside from her teeth the young Gryffindor girl had an extremely pretty face, and under her wizard robes, she could vaguely see very nice curves forming. It seemed the Veela was the only one to notice that with a simple teeth reduction charm and hair straightening potion, the little duckling would become one of the most beautiful girls in this Hall. Of course, Fleur rejoiced in the fact that not a single witch in the castle could hold a candle to her phenomenal beauty that would make her stand out even among Veela.

As the Beauxbatons delegation made their way into the great hall, Fleur despaired that they headed towards the table of a house called Ravenclaw, known for being snobbish and elitist. Fleur looked longingly at the Gryffindor table as she sat down between her friends Clemence and Lea.

Fleur didn't listen as the Hogwarts headmaster, the famous Albus Dumbledore who she had already labeled as incompetent, introduced the foreigners to his students, instead looking at the back of her mate, one table away. She also ignored the explanation about the Tri-wizard tournament, having already been informed of the rules. It was basically a competition with three elements: a Quidditch tournament, a dueling tournament and an individual contest. The main event being, of course, the individual contest she would be participating in. She did however listen closely when the headmaster announced the Quidditch and dueling teams that would compete, anxious to see if her mate was among them. Dumbledore had tried to make it interesting, by announcing the contestants as if in an award ceremony, and while it did add suspense, it also seemed to drag on forever and the Hogwarts Quidditch Team was the last to be announced. She almost beamed with pride when the Hogwarts headmaster concluded:

"And finally, last but not least, the seeker for Hogwarts is… Harry Potter!"

Cheers resounded in the Great Hall, but none clapped louder than Fleur herself, earning an inquisitive glance from her two friends, who were the only ones to notice her unusual enthusiasm. The Headmaster then unveiled the 'impartial 3rd party', the goblet of fire, used to select the champions for the individual contest, earning a few boos when he announced the age limit. Thought fleur felt a wave of relief from her mate when it was announced.

As soon as Dumbledore ended his speech, the feast started, and loud chatter began to resound in the Great Hall. Fleur ate calmly, half-heartedly responding to her friends, fighting the urge to go over and talk to her mate. As the meal began to end, Fleur suddenly stood up and started walking towards Gryffindor table. Everyone turned to look at her. Her mind screamed at her to turn around, but her legs wouldn't listen and in seconds she was right behind her mate. Harry turned his head to look at her and their eyes met. Fleur froze, faced with those piercing green eyes, she began to panic and frantically looked for an excuse. Suddenly she saw one.

"Um… could I 'ave the bouillabaisse pleaz'?

She asked pointing to the dish, before quickly adding.

"If you don't want eet of courz'."

To her relief, Harry simply said 'sure' before handing her the dish. In her nervousness, one of her hands covered his when taking the bowl. Instantly, her mind blanked. At that moment, she felt she could die from happiness. She began fantasizing about him taking her right then and there. She felt her insides moisten and her allure threatening to get out of control. Thankfully, it was Harry's voice that brought her back.

"Sorry, could you move your hand?"

_Huh? Why would she move her hand? She belonged to him, it was against her duty to leave him!_ She reluctantly slid her hand down while murmuring an apology, allowing the boy to let go of the bowl. She thanked him and quickly returned to her table. On her way, she calmed herself down. She knew that over-reaction was largely due to her instincts. The Veela took any form of rejection from their mates, no matter how small, extremely bad. Fleur's aunt had once told her of how she had cried for two days straight after her mate had said he wasn't in the mood for sex one night.

As she sat down, her friends immediately began to tease her:

"_You know there's a bowl of bouillabaisse right there, right?"_

_Which Lea countered with:_

"_She knows that! Buuuut, she hasn't stopped looking at that guy since we got here. Someone has a crush~"_

But Clemence rushed to Fleur's defense.

"_Come on, Fleur a crush? The sky will fall on our heads before that happens."_

"_She's right, Lea. I don't have a stupid crush."_

Added Fleur with a matter-of-fact tone. Clemence smiled and made an 'I told you so face'.

"_See-"_

"_What I feel is much stronger than that. He is my one true love."_

_Pfft!_ They both stared at her incredulously. Luckily no one else had heard the mind-blowing statement.

"_W-what?!"_

"_Y-you barely know him!"_

"_Nonsense. I've been waiting for him my whole life."_

A few moments of silence reigned before Lea asked:

"_Is this a Veela thing?"_

While the knowledge of the bond between a Veela and their mate wasn't exactly a secret per say, it wasn't very well known. Mainly because Veela felt it was a very personal thing. For this reason, a Veela rarely talked about their bond with people other than family and even then they remained vague, never going into detail. Fleur briefly thought about telling her friends about mates, but knowing they would ask probing questions and would be unable to understand how much the bond meant to a Veela, she gave up on the notion. Simply answering:

"_He is resistant to my allure"_

Her two friends seemed to take it at face value and nodded.

"_Needless to say, I request your absolute discretion."_

Her friends exchanged a teasing grin.

"_Oh, I don't know, that's pretty big news~"_

"_Careful Lea, I have a lot of dirt..."_

Fleur said menacingly.

"_No you don't-"_

"_Third floor potions classroom, 13th December 1992."_

"_My lips are sealed!"_

"_Clemence?"_

"_Go ahead I got nothing to hide."_

"_The boggart debacle"_

"_My boggart is a huge cock, next."_

"_Alright, the Louis James incident."_

"_I had a threesome with Louis and James in 5th year, so what?"_

"_I didn't want to do this, but you've forced my hand… The Mr.T dream."_

"_It would be improper for me to get in the way of a maiden's love!"_

"_Good!"_

_~~Later that Night- The Beauxbatons Carriage~~_

Fleur sat at her desk, writing a brief letter to her mother detailing the day's events.

_Dear Maman,_

_I found Him! My mate's name is Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived! He's super handsome, and super strong, and basically perfect! _

_But he is very resistant to my allure, I don't know how to get his attention. _

_How did you seduce papa? Please send any advice._

_Love,_

_-F.D_

_P.S: How is Gabby?_

Fleur's sister, Gabrielle Delacour, had bonded with her mate's magic and soul the moment she was born suggesting he was older than her, by how much, there was no way to know. Unlike Fleur, Gabby didn't check on her mate every day, mainly because she didn't have the trauma of almost losing him. Gabby was a super cute, cheerful little ball of joy that brought good vibes wherever she was. But last year, her mate's emotions began acting up far more than usual. She had been very worried and spent most of summer checking on him. While Gabby didn't share the details, she did indicate her mate wasn't feeling well. Because of this Gabby herself had been a bit down these past few months.

Handing over the letter to the owl, Fleur laid down on her bed to check on her mate. She was pleased to find that he was having fun and went to sleep with her mind at peace.

* * *

_Harry POV_

~~Gryffindor Tower~~

It had been a long day for Harry, while he had the afternoon off in the spirit of inter-school socialization it had been hectic. It had all started when the Beauxbatons delegation had arrived. He had to admit he was impressed with the flying carriage, while it was less cool than the Durmstrang Ship, it had certainly been more stylish. Thought the students from Beauxbatons weren't particularly impressive. Shortly after the Durmstrang delegation had arrived. Now they had been impressive, every one of them was tall, strong and dressed in heavy coats, even the girls. He still felt how Ron had madly shaken his arm, gesticulating towards his man-crush Viktor Krum while Hermione rolled her eyes. The rest of the afternoon had been filled with foreign students ambushing him, all wanting to meet the Boy-who-lived, he had eventually managed to get away and hide in the Gryffindor common room until dinner.

At dinner Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table, and listened to Dumbledore's speech. He anxiously waited for the announcement of the Hogwarts Quidditch team, he had gone to the tryouts and played for seeker but had tied with Cedric Diggory in the number of snitches caught. So, when Dumbledore announced him as Hogwarts seeker he had almost jumped up in excitement. The entire hall save for a portion of the Slytherin table had cheered and he strangely felt he heard the loudest cheers coming from the Ravenclaw table, but he had disregarded it. He had also been relieved to know he wouldn't be allowed to participate in the individual contest. While Quidditch was fun and he was happy to play just for the hell of it, the prospect of a dangerous set of tasks that would put him at the center of all the attention didn't excite him. So to know he wouldn't be pressured into entering was simply liberating. Ron had been hit the hardest by the news thought, as soon as the feast began, he could only talk about how unfair it was and how he would find a way to enter the contest anyway. The rest of the night had been rather normal save for one event.

Harry was eating some chicken when he felt the chatter around him die down, he looked up to see Ron's face go redder than his hair, his mouth gaping as the food he was chewing spilled out, and his glazed eyes stared unblinking behind him. Turning around, Harry understood why. There stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, she was tall, with long silvery blond hair, and perfect curves. Next to her, even supermodels looked plain at best. Yet while she was certainly stunning, he felt Ron's reaction was both over exaggerated and disrespectful. He was about to ask what she wanted when she asked with a mesmerizing voice:

"Um… could I 'ave the bouillabaisse pleaz'?

While pointing to a strange french dish, before quickly adding.

"If you don't want eet of courz'."

As no one had touched the dish, Harry passed it to her. But when, she reached for the dish, their hands met. Her skin was very soft and smooth. Her hand felt so warm and comforting Harry almost lost himself for an instant. Looking up, the French girl was blushing slightly at the contact while averting her eyes. Not wanting to embarrass her, Harry asked:

"Sorry, could you move your hand?"

She apologized and moved her hand allowing him to let go. She thanked him and hurriedly walked away. Turning back to his meal, Harry didn't notice the strange looks in his best friends' eyes, one from Ron directed at him, while the other from Hermione directed at the French girl.

That night he and his roommates talked and joked around until late into the night.

As Harry went to sleep, he prayed for one thing:

_Please let this year be normal._

**AN: I know the POVs are a bit unbalanced, sorry. It'll balance out later. By the way, did you know, in French: 'Beauxbatons' means 'Nice Sticks'. Please Rate and Review!**


	3. Chapter 2: Introduction

**AN: I am on a roll!**

_Harry POV_

Ron had been acting strange since this summer. Harry hadn't really noticed it until now but looking back something was definitely amiss. Even last night as they were talking with their roommates, Ron kept joking about how even when Harry got into trouble it made him look good. What made Harry look back on these events was the situation that had just arisen.

"Um? Greengrass? That's Ron's spot."

Harry had been calmly waiting for Ron to arrive when the beautiful blonde sat down next to him.

"Sorry Potter, but your boyfriend is cheating on you…"

She said pointing to the back of the potions class where Ron sat next to Seamus. Since the first day of class they had sat together, especially in potions where they worked in pairs. Yet today, his best friend had left him alone to go sit with Seamus. But Ron and he had gone through countless life or death situations, he himself had endangered Ron on many occasions and the redhead had always stood by him. Surely, he was over-thinking this.

However, that still didn't explain why Daphne Greengrass, the 'Slytherin Ice Queen' and one of the most beautiful girls in Hogwarts, had suddenly sat down beside him. So, he asked:

"What I meant was, why are you sitting here?"

Greengrass merely nodded towards another table where Tracey Davis, her best friend and the one who normally sat next to her, was chatting happily with Blaise Zabini. Blaise was a tall, rather handsome, young man who usually hanged out with Malfoy and his gang. Normally he was paired Gregory Goyle, who was now awkwardly looking around for a partner before begrudgingly sitting down next to Dean Thomas, Seamus' previous partner. Looking back at Davis and Zabini Harry just had to ask.

"Are they…?"

"Screwing? Not yet, but at this rate I give it a month at most."

"I was going to say dating but never mind. Thought that still doesn't tell me why you left poor Gregory hanging." Harry teased.

"Don't flatter yourself, I'd rather partner up with a shoe than Gregory Goyle." She spat.

"That hurts. What makes you think I won't go pair up with Dean."

At this, Daphne simply laughed.

"I give you an opportunity to both curb Snape's hatred of you, _and _partner with one of the best students in our year, yet you want to go pair up with the number 3 worst potions student in the _school. _Which granted is still two ranks above from what you had before."

It was true, one of the reasons Gryffindors were labeled as dumb, was the presence of Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, the so-called "triumvirate of mediocrity", who collectively held a virtual monopoly on the three bottom spots of every class ranking since first year. And that was with Hermione there to boost them, safe to say Ron would have done even worse without her.

"Relax I was joking, I'll partner up with you. Who knows, could be even be fun."

"Good. But if you try and make a move on me, I swear you won't be the Boy-Who-Lived much longer."

Rolling his eyes, Harry suddenly snapped to attention as the door swung open and Snape stormed in, visibly surprised and slightly annoyed at the change in groups.

By the end of the class Harry felt he knew who Daphne Greengrass was a little better. While they weren't exactly friends, they were definitely no longer strangers, friendly acquaintances if you would.

While they hadn't really talked that much, Harry was sure of one thing. Daphne Greengrass was a bitch. Not a bitch like Parkinson who went on and on about how she was pureblood, in fact Daphne found that stupid. But to the violet-eyed Slytherin other people's thoughts were about as important as ponderings of ants, that is to say she basically didn't give a fuck. Her bitchiness did not, however, discriminate. Be it blood-status, magical capability, or even race. Daphne was a complete and total bitch to you all the same.

She rarely smiled. And While he did manage to get a few smirks and a couple of stifled laughs from the so-called 'Ice Queen', she was for the most part completely stone-cold, living up to her nickname.

However, Harry also couldn't deny that she was quite intelligent and, bitchiness aside, was rather fun to hang out with. In a way, it made him reconsider the way he viewed Slytherins. Perhaps people like Daphne, who were truly cunning and ambitious, were the ones who really embodied Slytherins while people like Malfoy were just bigots. Either way he felt he had met a nice person and in his book that was a good thing.

_Fleur POV_

Fleur Delacour was sitting gracefully on a bench 'reading' a book about transfigurations. The beautiful Veela sat next to one of the castle's many windows, so as to enjoying the cool breeze, which was 'coincidently' within seeing distance of the door of the potions classroom in the opposite tower. Or at least that's how it would appear to anyone passing by.

In reality, Fleur had obtained the schedule of fourth-year Gryffindors the previous day from a nervous wreck by the name of Neville Longbottom. She had casually brought it up in conversation, that passersby would describe as a quasi-monologue judging from how little the trembling boy spoke. Surprisingly, the boy had thrust his weekly planning in her face for a few moments before running away. But she had a good enough brain to committed it to memory and spent the next few hours finding vantage points to be able to see people exiting or entering classes.

This morning, her beloved was supposed to be in potions class from 8h30 to 11h30. Yet, glancing at her watch the Veela noted that it had been 36 seconds since 11h30, and there were still no signs of her loved one exiting the room. _Is he even there? _She wondered. But looking for his presence she easily found him to be exactly where she thought he was. _Maybe something happened to him! _But checking his emotions, she found him slightly nervous but otherwise fine. However, that did nothing to calm down the increasingly impatient Veela.

Just as she was about to barge into the class to rescue her mate, she saw the door open. Breathing a sigh of relief, she focused onto the entrance. Unsurprisingly, the first one out was Ronald Weasley, the one rumored to be one of the worst students in the history of the thousand-year-old school. But what surprised Fleur was that he wasn't accompanied by Harry. Her information had specified the two of them were inseparable, yet her mate was nowhere to be seen. Longing for her beloved, the young vela began to grow impatient once more.

As she was preparing to take action. She suddenly saw him exiting the classroom. Fleur felt entranced, he was just as perfect as before, still as tall, still as handsome, still with those piercing green eyes, and accompanied by a beautiful blonde girl with green robes. _Wait, What!? Who's that bitch!_ Not only had the mysterious woman not shown up in her investigation but she wore green robes, which Fleur had been assured meant she belonged to Slytherin House, a house known for their rivalry with Gryffindor. Something was terribly wrong! She had been lulled into a false sense of confidence by the information she gathered and hadn't been extensive enough. _So, a new enemy appears… No! She's always been my enemy but has only just now revealed herself! She must have somehow manipulated the information I was given. _And so, the violet eyed Slytherin instantly became a priority target for the Veela, surpassing Hermione Granger.

The reason for this was twofold. First, she had sprung up out of nowhere indicating her ability to manipulate information and her skill at cunning. But more importantly, she was by far the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts. In fact, if Fleur didn't know any better, she would suspect her of being a Veela. The girl certainly had the looks for it, even surpassing some of the less pretty Veela Fleur had met. Of course, she was no match for Fleur who could put even the most beautiful Veela to shame, but in this castle she came closest.

Ignoring the new variable, she proceeded with her earlier plan regardless and snapped her book shut. Heading calmly towards the great hall. Or at least that's how it would appear to anyone passing by.

_Harry POV_

Harry was headed towards the great hall for lunch, on the way he had separated from Daphne and now walked alongside Hermione. Hermione was about as perplexed as him regarding Ron's change of group but urged him get back together with Ron less he and Seamus destroy half the school while trying to boil water. Yet Harry wasn't sure he wanted to change back, sure Ron was his best friend, but Daphne had indicated Tracey and Blaise weren't going to split just yet, and he rather enjoyed working with her. At least more than he enjoyed being paired with a complaining red hair. But he supposed if Ron came back, he would just apologize to Daphne and partner up with him again.

As Harry and Hermione were talking about potions class while walking towards the great hall. Harry suddenly bumped into something soft. Taking a step back, Harry noticed it was the French girl from last night. Realizing he had just run into her, Harry apologized.

"Eet is okay. Eet's my fault, I wazn't looking. Oh, sank you again for givin' moi zee Bouillabaisse last night."

"It was nothing, no one at my table wanted any. I'm Harry by the way, Harry Potter."

Harry introduced himself while extending his hand to the blonde French girl, who quickly took it, a smile blossoming on her face as she did. Harry noticed a small blush appear on the girl's face. _Oh right, we brushed hands yesterday. That must have been embarrassing for her. _He didn't however, noticed the flash of sorrow that crossed her eyes when he let go. Gesturing towards Hermione he introduced her and the two shook hands, while exchanging strange looks.

"Im sorry, buut I canut seem to find zee great hall. Could you take me zere?"

"Sure, we were just heading there anyway."

"Oh, wat a conicidenze!"

And so, the three of them made their way to the Great Hall.

"So how are you finding Britain?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Eet eez cold and zee food tastes quite bad, but I like zee people."

"You've met some of the other students already?" asked Harry.

"Nut really, buut you zeem nice."

"I don't think you can liken Harry to any other wizard in Britain."

"I agree- Uh! I mean he eez zee Boy-who-lived non?"

Harry tensed at that and gave Fleur a complex look. Seemingly realizing her mistake, the French witch quickly backed up.

"Not zat eet changez zee way I treat you. It must be 'ard to be zeen as someone you're nuut."

The trio soon arrived at the great hall. Fleur said her goodbyes with a hint of reluctance and headed towards her friends sitting at Ravenclaw table. Hermione and Harry made their way towards Ron who was already wolfing down food like an animal. The three of them sat in silence until Harry final asked the unspoken question:

"So why did you go sit with Seamus in potions?"

"Seamus _*chomp* _is my friend _*chomp*, _we agreed on it last night _*chomp_* you were there _*chomp_* and besides _*chomp_* you ended up with _Daphne Greengrass_."

"I'm pretty sure I would've remembered you saying you wanted to change groups. But that still doesn't tell me why? We've been together in potions since day one."

"Don't take it like that. _*chomp_* I just felt like switching. _*chomp_* Besides you were doing most of the work _*chomp_* anyway _*chomp_*"

And that was all they got out of Ron on that subject. The three of them changed subject and began speaking of this and that when suddenly, two hands covered Harry's view.

"Katie?"

"Haha! nothing gets by our best seeker 'ey?"

"Well considering you're the only one who does this, it's quite simple really."

"Haha! well I guess I am. Anyway, remember Quidditch practice tomorrow afternoon. We're in the big leagues now."

Katie Bell had been selected to be one of the Hogwarts chasers, meaning she was on the team with him. Which Harry had been extremely happy to hear that as he and Katie got along famously well, she was easily his second best female friend after Hermione. And even though she liked to tease him, he didn't take it the wrong way because he knew it was all in good fun.

~~_Later that afternoon~~_

Harry, Hermione and Ron were unexpectedly sitting in the Great Hall instead of the Gryffindor common room during their free period, for today was the first day of entries to the goblet of Fire, dozens of students had already showed up to cast their ballots and most of the school was now gathered here during free period to watch the 7th years tempt fate.

Ron had almost gone crazy when Viktor Krum cast his name in and was currently in the process of figuring out an 'elaborate' (at least by his standards) way for him to bypass the age line.

Harry was half-heartedly interested, but politely clapped every time a brave soul cast his name. Unlike Hermione, who couldn't be more disinterested by the event if she tried. As Harry politely clapped for Cedric Diggory, he noticed a familiar figure.

Most of the room turned to look at the beautiful French girl, Ron' mouth opening comically like a fish. Fleur made her way to the Goblet, ignoring the lecherous gazes. To Harry's surprise she stopped just before dropping her name and looked straight into his eyes. Harry could see determination in the beautiful sapphire eyes of the French student as she smiled radiantly at him and dropped her name while maintaining eye contact. She then winked and walked away seductively despite the increasingly lust filled gazes directed after her. In that moment, Harry had to admit he found the silver blonde incredibly attractive.

_Fleur POV_

As Fleur restrained her allure that had begun to slip out of control, she congratulated herself on a plan well-executed. She had felt her mate beginning to develop faint feelings of lust when she walked away. Nothing major, but definitely a step in the right direction.

Everything had gone perfectly as she had hoped, she had introduced herself smoothly despite a slight slip up due to her excitement that she quickly corrected. The last part had taken a while to plan but in the end, she managed to enter the great hall at precisely the right moment to capture Harry's attention. Now she just needed to find a way to let him know she loved him. Well she wasn't going to say _love_ right off the bat, that would scare him off.

_But soon. Soon I'll be yours, my love!_

**AN: Phew, that's done. The next two weeks are going to be hectic (mid-terms…), but I'll try and post something. No promises thought. Please pray for the salvation of my semester!**


	4. Chapter 3: The selection

**AN: Look at that, I did manage to get a chapter out. There have been many questions in the comments on whether or not this is a Harem story and I'll address it in the foot note because it's a bit more complex then yes or no. But basically, the short answer is no.**

_Harry POV_

Today was October 31st more commonly known as Halloween. Tonight, at the feast, the goblet of fire would select the three champions for the individual contest. But unlike most of the school, when Harry woke up that morning, he wasn't in a excited, for he had long figured out a simple rule surrounding him: 'Nothing Good happens on Halloween'.

It had all started-on Halloween night of 1981, when he became an orphan. For the following ten years, Halloween had simply been Dudley tormenting him more than usual. Then three years ago today, professor Quirrell had let in a troll into the school which had attacked Hermione and almost killed him. Two years ago, Ginny Weasley had opened the Chamber of secret and ended up almost resurrecting Voldemort. And finally, last year an Azkaban escapee had infiltrated his dormitory with every intention to commit murder, albeit it turned out to be his falsely convicted godfather trying to get revenge for his parents, but still.

Safe to say Harry was certain that if something was going to happen to him this year, it would start today or more likely tonight. And so, Harry spent the day watching everything for the slightest sign of danger. Which ended up making his new potions partner look at him strangely.

"I'm not going to shank you if that's what you're worried about."

Harry managed a laugh at Daphne's rare attempt at humor. It had been two weeks since they had paired up as Tracey and Blaise had started dating like Daphne predicted, making their arrangement more of a long-term thing.

In that time, the two had built a rather particular 'rapport' and could be said to be somewhat friends, at least he was the closest thing to a friend Daphne had besides Tracey.

"It's not you, it's just…Tonight, is the night they died."

Who Harry meant by 'they' was left unspoken but Daphne easily understood what he meant. Her cold expression slightly softened.

"Oh… Sorry"

"It's okay, I guess. I mean, I never knew them. You wouldn't think the death of strangers 13 years ago would have an effect on you. I mean, people I never knew die every day and it doesn't affect me. I think I'm not so much mourning them as I am the Idea of them, a family… You know?"

"I don't."

Daphne answered rather unemotionally.

"But I understand… for what it's worth, I think they would have been proud of you."

Taken aback by his friend's non-bitchiness, Harry took a moment to respond.

"Uh...Thanks Daph"

"Don't look so surprised, it's not like I'm some kind of heartless person."

"I-I didn't say that!"

Harry managed, earning a slight giggle from the blonde girl.

"Mr. Potter! Care to tell us what warrants such a ruckus."

While the two of them had been whispering, Snape seem in a particularly bad mood today.

"Mr. Potter and I were discussing the death of his parents, 13 years ago today."

Daphne answered calmly, implicitly reminding the professor of what today was to the boy standing beside her. Whispers sounded throughout the classroom and Snape took on a strange, complex expression. Which honestly shocked him as Harry had never seen Snape with such an expression. _Is he… sorry for me? _Disregarding such an absurd thought, Harry took Snape's silence as godsend and finished his potion with Daphne.

~~_later that night_~~

To Harry's relief, nothing strange had happened today. But every previous event had occurred during the evening and without prior warning. So, when Harry sat in the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron, he half expected a Death Eater attack any minute now.

Slowly the lights dimmed, and Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Settle down everyone! Please settle down!"

Once the Great Hall was silent, Dumbledore spoke once more.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for… the champion selection!"

With that, Dumbledore moved towards the Goblet of Fire and began to creepily caress it in a way that most people probably wouldn't consent to. As if telling him to stop, the Goblet of Fire flared red and a single slip of paper flew out. Catching it mid-air, the Hogwarts headmaster read.

"The Durmstrang champion, is Viktor Krum!"

Loud cheers sounded as the Bulgarian seeker stood up and went to shake Dumbledore's hand before disappearing into the adjacent room. Dumbledore began to move towards the goblet of fire, but before he could molest it again the flames flared.

"The Beauxbatons champion, is Fleur Delacour!"

Once more loud cheers sounded as the stunning French witch went to shake Dumbledore's hand. But instead of looking at the crowd, Harry felt she was looking straight at him as if evaluating his enthusiasm. This kind of creeped him out. But just as he was beginning to feel uncomfortable, the blonde witch, turned her head with difficulty towards the door to the adjacent room and made her way towards it. _Oh! She probably had a neck cramp… _It felt a bit like an excuse, but he didn't think Fleur was the kind of person to just stare at someone for no reason.

The same process was repeated, and Cedric Diggory was chosen to be Hogwarts Champion. The crowd gave a final cheer as Dumbledore began a speech. But just as Harry was beginning to think the pattern had been broken, the Goblet flared red a fourth time. _No! No! Please don't tell me…_

"Harry Potter!"

_Of Fucking Course! Why is it always me! _As Harry ranted in his head, Hermione nudged him to step forth. Which he did hesitantly, noticing the jealous looks from his year mates including, if not especially, from Ron. Yet, rather than surprised or shock at the development, Harry was angry and fed up. Every year this school always put him in danger. And he was beginning to question Dumbledore's reputation.

The events of second year could be overlooked as Dumbledore had no way to access the Chamber without parseltongue, but in first year and then Sirius' case? What kind of idiot decides the safest place for a priceless artifact is in a school, especially considering the existence of the fidelius charm. Even then, what kind of superior doesn't notice one of his staff getting possessed. And how could Dumbledore, one of the most influential people in all of Magical Britain, fail to obtain a trial for Sirius? Either the headmaster was an arsehole or age had really gotten to him.

As Harry awkwardly walked through the door to the annex, he resolved himself to do everything he could to avoid shit like this to continue happening to him. _I'm done being weak!_

_Fleur POV_

Fleur entered the annex slightly disappointed. Not because she had been chosen as Champion, she expected that and relished in the opportunity to show off to her beloved. She was upset because Harry hadn't been particularly enthusiastic at her selection. Thinking back, she didn't really know what she had expected from him. What she did know was that she had fucked up, he mate had briefly felt _creeped out_ by her staring. She had immediately turned away with difficulty and the feeling had faded, but it had been a close one.

Throughout the evening her mate had felt uneasy, and while originally confused she quickly remembered today was the day his parents had died, and more importantly, the day she had almost lost him. Instead of evaluating the other Champion, like Krum was doing to her with slightly glazed eyes, she debated whether or not to go comfort Harry after this, also completely ignoring the entrance of the Hogwarts Champion who greeted her and Krum with the same slightly glazed eyes as the Bulgarian.

Suddenly Fleur's head snapped upwards. She had suddenly felt her mate was annoyed, angry and betrayed! _What happened! Is he okay!? _As she thought about charging into the Great Hall, her beloved entered the annex sporting a complex expression. Relieved, Fleur almost _rushed _to him.

"Wat happened 'Arry?" She asked worriedly.

Taken aback, the boy was about to answer when the doors swung open and the three headmasters, followed by a few teachers, swarmed in. Her headmistress looked outraged and Karkaroff seemed ready to gut someone. They ranted about unfairness and cheating, but all of it went above her head. She needed to know what was wrong.

"What's going on?" asked Cedric.

Crouch then stepped forward and made the mind-blowing revelation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it would seem this young man is the fourth champion."

Fleur was stunned. She barely heard the headmasters continue their ranting.

"This is cheating!"

"Technically, there are no rules preventing the selection of more than three champion. Thought the Goblet had always only chosen three and one of each school. What is more concerning is how put his name into the Goblet-"

"Ee' didn't!" Fleur exclaimed.

Harry looked at her gratefully, which was well worth ten times over the glares she got from the enraged headmasters.

"While your confidence in young Mr. Potter is certainly inspiring Miss. Delacour, I must still make certain. Harry, did you enter your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"No."

"Did you ask someone to put it in for you?"

"No"

"He Lies-"

"I'm afraid it makes little difference, Mr. Potter has entered a binding contract with the Goblet of Fire. He must compete or lose his magic."

"NON! Eet's too dangerous!" Fleur cried desperately.

She felt her mate was hurt by her comment but while it saddened her, she didn't care. She couldn't let him get into harm's way!

"Wait a minute. How can I enter a binding contract without my consent?"

"Um… that's how it works."

"So, the Goblet can force people into contracts against their will?"

"Uh…. well I guess…"

"So why didn't you just put Voldemort's name in the Goblet during the war, not tell him about it and make him lose his magic?"

"Well... um…"

Everyone began to look at both Crouch and Dumbledore strangely. If this was true, then the Goblet of Fire was certainly one of the most powerful dark artifacts in history. Luckily, professor Moody stepped forward to save the mumbling official.

"What Crouch means to say is that the ministry doesn't believe you didn't enter, and even if they did, it would cause too much blow-back! They would have to cancel the whole tournament after acknowledging the goblet was compromised by a _third party_."

Moody practically hissed the words 'third party' at Karkaroff who looked outraged at the implication and began to defend himself. But before he could finish, Moody grabbed his arm, lifted his sleeve and pointed at a tattoo of the Dark Mark.

"That's all the proof I need. Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. Even for you, you traitor. At least I have respect for those like Bellatrix who didn't sell out their comrades. You? You turned coat the minute you could! What makes us think the Dark Mark this Summer didn't scare so shitless you switched back?"

Most people in the room began looking at Karkaroff suspiciously, with the exception of Fleur who was glaring at him so hatefully she was about ready to kill him any minute now.

"Regardless, Mr. Potter will compete. The tournament will go on as planned, thought the first task will be delayed a few weeks in order to accommodate our… unforeseen participant."

Fleur continued to protest but was drowned out by the noise caused by the other people present. Just as she was about to start hexing people at random, Dumbledore spoke.

"I agree with Crouch. Those who entered Harry probably have an agenda, we should use this opportunity to draw them out. I shall personally guarantee the safety of all four Champions."

While that seemed to shut up the crowd, Fleur was unconvinced to say the least. More accurately she was outraged. _Use my mate as bait?! How dare they! They haven't heard the last of this! _But then, Fleur reconsidered. Wasn't this the perfect excuse to spend time with him? Sure, Dumbledore was almost surely incompetent, but there were aurors, Mme. Maxime and herself to ensure his safety. _Perhaps this isn't so bad…_

_Harry POV_

~~_Gryffindor tower~~_

When Harry made his way back to the common room, he was met with loud cheers from all the 5th through 7th year Gryffindors, while his own year mates were noticeably annoyed. In particular, Ron's glare felt like it would reduce him to ash. He was continuously congratulated and thanked by his house mates, who hoped he would bring glory to their house. Despite his insistence that he didn't want to compete, the 'celebration' lasted for a few hours.

When Harry finally went to bed, his roommates simply glared at him. Eventually, Ron spoke out.

"How did you do it?"

"What?"

"You could have at least told us instead of hogging the attention like you always do!"

"But like I keep telling everyone, I didn't do it!"

"Don't insult our intelligence! Of course you did!" Shouted Dean.

"Yeah, we're not idiots!" Added Seamus.

"You always find a way to make yourself look good and us like your pathetic sidekicks!"

"Yeah, you're a prat! You just got lucky when you were a kid, and now you think you're all that!" Yelled Ron.

"You know what? Fuck you!"

And with that Harry stormed out, grabbing his invisibility cloak on the way out.

Harry didn't really know where he was going, but he knew he couldn't stay there and listen to his 'friends' yell and insult him. Did they really think he got lucky when a dark wizard killed his only family? Did they really think he treated them like sidekicks? That he wanted to be put in life or death situations?

Quite by coincidence, Harry found himself in the Great Hall. Taking off his cloak, he sat down and look thoughtfully at the Goblet of Fire. It was quite ironic that he ended up here, but faced with the source of his current predicaments, he couldn't help but ponder._ Who could have put my name in? Karkaroff? Why enter me? Are they just hoping I die or is something more sinister at play?_

"You know they say criminals always return to the scene of the crime."

Turning around he was greeted with the sight of the one and only, Daphne Greengrass. She was wearing casual clothes, much like him, and looked even more stunning than in her uniform. Her violet eyes gazed at him intensely before she added.

"Just kidding, only a world class idiot would be stupid enough to think that you put in your name in there… then again, that does describe most of your friends."

"Daph… I really don't need your bitchiness right now."

Slightly taken aback, Daphne did something very much out of character and didn't make a sassy comeback. Instead she slowly walked over to where he was, sitting down next to him. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke in an oddly comforting tone.

"Sorry. I just don't like how your 'friends' treat you."

"How did you know?"

"From the looks they gave you when you stood up, it was obvious. Instead of concern, they were jealous."

"Right… Slytherins, very perceptive."

"Ironic isn't it? That a Slytherin believes you, but not your own?"

"I guess it is…"

The two of them just sat in peaceful silence for a while. Neither speaking a word. Harry didn't bother asking how Daphne got here, or why. The answer would be the same for both 'I'm a Slytherin'. The soothing silence continued for a few minutes, until Daphne shattered it.

"So, you wanna make out?" She blurted.

Harry was completely taken off guard by the remark. So much so, that the raven-haired boy barely managed to stutter out his confusion.

"W-w-what?"

"What's wrong? Am I not pretty enough for a Triwizard champion?" Daphne teased.

"N-no. I-it's just… why?"

"Why not? It's not like I'm asking you to marry me."

"I guess…"

Harry hesitantly leaned in towards the beautiful blonde, who did the same. Their lips soon made contact. While hesitant at first, the kiss quickly became more heated, Daphne wrapped her arms around his neck and their tongues battled for supremacy. After a few minutes, the two pulled away.

"Not what I expected, but still good." Daphne commented.

While that comment coming from anyone else would have wounded his pride, Harry knew that Daphne basically called 'good' what she considered great or near perfect. What did take him off guard was the first part.

"Wait, was this your first?"

"Of course. Did you think I'm some skank?" she replied, faking offense.

"S-so does this mean we're…"

"Dating? No. I'm not such a 'bitch', as you so eloquently put it, that I would force you into a relationship after basically taking advantage of your lowest moment."

"I didn't mean it like that-"

"I know. But if we do end up dating, I don't want it to be because I kissed you when you were feeling bad."

And without further explanation Daphne stood up and made for the exit. Stopping just before the door.

"You know, there's an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor, not far from the Gryffindor common room. No one really knows about it. I hear you're good at transfiguration, why not make something of it? You know, with those Idiots that share your room and all."

With that last statement, Daphne Greengrass left. Shortly after, so did Harry. Hesitantly making his way to the fourth floor.

Both of them were completely unaware of the enraged French Veela currently standing in the ashes of what use to be her room.

**AN: So, now to address your concerns about this story's direction. First of all, I want to reassure you that this ****won't**** be a cheap harem fanfic where all the girls throw themselves at the MC, who jumps at the opportunity, and all of them are somehow okay with each other. **

**What I'm trying to create here is a 'romance' story. However, it would be boring if the couple just got together and lived happily ever after. So I introduced 'competition', Fleur won't be the only one after Harry. And even after **_**someone**_** (keeping the suspense alive…) starts dating him, others will try and interfere.**

**Of course, due to the POVs, the narrator is unreliable so you won't know which ones are really after Harry or just a figment of Fleur's paranoia. (Mwahaha!)**

**In the end, I think some of you may actually start rooting for a harem… if it's done right and the characters are relatable. **

**Due to me wanting to make this more interesting, I'll stay as vague as possible and avoid spoilers.**

**May be a while before next chap so hold on to your hats.**


	5. Chapter 4: A Room and a Plan

**AN: So some of you are confused about Daphne's out of character suggestion. I can only say I'm happy you feel this way, cause it's exactly the feeling that I wanted to create.**

_Harry POV_

As he made his way to the fourth flour, Harry couldn't help but think back to his encounter with Daphne in the Great Hall. Not only had he been surprised by the suddenness of her request, but also by the fact it was very much out of character for the so-called 'Ice Queen'. If anything, she would have probably said 'I allow you to kiss me' or something like that. This was something he would have to inquire about.

But those thoughts were just to distract himself from the more pressing question that occupied his mind. _Do I like Daphne? _Sure, he liked her, but did he _like_ her? Harry didn't know. On one hand they got along, and she was beautiful. But on the other hand, he hadn't really looked at her in that way in that way. Would it even work between them? Why had he even accepted her offer? Was it a spur of the moment decision or was he subconsciously hoping for that development?

Harry had rarely been so confused. So, to escape the stress that was building, he did what people shouldn't do, but too often did, and avoided confronting his feelings. _What's the point of worrying if she doesn't like me? I'm probably overthinking this, she herself said she doesn't want us to date. It was a onetime thing out of curiosity. Let's just pretend it never happened! Yeah, that sounds good._

Harry soon arrived at the abandoned classroom Daphne had told him about, as it was located around a corner, so no-one ever really noticed it. How Daphne knew about it was beyond him but knowing her it was probably because she made it a point of knowing random things others didn't.

Entering the old classroom, he cast a Lumos to fend away the darkness, the first thing he noticed was the dust. It was thick and everywhere, obviously no one had been here in the last few years.

Using a simple vanishing charm, Harry took care of the problem, revealing a stone floor, some wooden desks, chairs and chalkboard that were now spotless, with the exceptions of a few stains and cobwebs.

He then walked towards the door leading to the professor's office at the back of the class, vanishing the cobwebs that covered the room on his way over. As he tried to open the door to the office, he found the handle to be so rusted it refused to turn. Frustrated, Harry simply vanished part of the wall that separated the classroom from the office, revealing a similarly dust covered room with a few shelves to the right on which laid a couple of books, a fireplace and a large desk.

Having once more finished vanishing the dust and cobwebs, Harry contemplated what to do with the room. It was large, bigger than the potions classroom when including the professor's office, though still smaller than the enormous DADA classroom.

Deciding a bed was necessary, he used the levitation charm to gather four desks and transfigured them into a king-size poster bed frame. He then turned three desks into a mattress and used two more broken ones to make red and gold sheets as well as a pair of matching pillows.

Such a feat was far beyond what a wizard his age should be able to do. However, to say Harry was talented in transfiguration was an understatement. He was a genius. Even as a fourth year, he could perform NEWT level transfiguration spells.

Moving the bed he was very proud of against the center of the furthest wall, in between two conveniently placed windows, he transfigured two chairs into a pair of nightstands that he placed on both sides of the bed.

Looking again at the room, it just looked like a classroom with a bed in it. To most people, currently avoiding their roommates, it would be enough. But Harry was nothing if not a perfectionist, maybe it was the years he spent as a slave, or maybe Hermione had rubbed off on him, who knew.

Unsatisfied, Harry began to make the classroom homelier. He transfigured the large desk into a red and gold couch, which he put in front of the fireplace, then used a few chairs to make a comfy armchair, which he placed to the left of his beautiful couch and took a desk to make a coffee table between them. He didn't drink coffee, but it felt like something would be missing without it.

He continued to decorate for about two hours, adding a large wardrobe, a few drawers, a medium dining table, and some large carpets to cover the cold stone floor.

However, as his Lumos began to fade, the room was plunged into total darkness once more. Realizing his error, Harry lit a fire in the fireplace and transfigured all the inkwells into candles which he scattered strategically to be able to light the whole room.

Fed up with showers and shared bathrooms, Harry transfigured all remaining desks into a large bathtub and all remaining chairs into a toilet which he put in a corner before shifting what remained of the partitioning wall to isolate the corner into a bathroom.

Lastly, Harry tackled the only remaining issue, the entrance door. Which was almost as old and rusted as the office door. Levitating the office door to the entrance, he transfigured it into a suite of armor similar to those that littered the castle. He then transfigured the original door into a stone wall that merged almost perfectly with the rest of the corridor.

Now sealed inside the former classroom, Harry began the most complex spell he knew: a password activated rotation rune. Harry had been fascinated by the entrance to Dumbledore's office and had immediately read up on how it was made. The casting was especially hard for him since he didn't take ancient runes. So much so, that he had to repeat the process four times before he succeeded.

The result was far from perfect but was usable and inconspicuous.

For his password he chose '_ash nazg' _which meant 'one ring' in Tolkien's 'black tongue'. He was pretty sure few wizard students read the lord of the rings, and those who did wouldn't remember the exact words. Besides, it sounded cool.

Contemplating his work, Harry was amazed. In only a few hours, he had made a cozy chamber out of an abandoned classroom. He could have stopped there and be hailed far and wide as the greatest transfiguration student in the history of Hogwarts. But the boy was now drunk on his power, he felt like a god, shaping the world to his will. For once, he was free and in control of something!

Wanting to satisfy his new-found vanity, he turned the chalkboard into a beautiful large tapestry which depicted his various achievements. From right to left, one could see a detailed rendition of his confrontation with Quirrell, his slaying of the basilisk, and his face-off with dementors.

As if coming out of a trance, Harry suddenly felt very tired. Looking at his watch, it was now four in the morning. _Shit! I have transfiguration at 8h30 tomorrow! -Wait… no I don't. _

As a Triwizard champion, Harry was exempt for all classes he didn't wish to attend. And as he already knew most of what there was to know in transfiguration… _yep, I'm sleeping in! _

And with that Harry crashed onto his masterpiece of a bed and instantly fell asleep.

_Fleur POV_

Breathing heavily the French Veela tried desperately to calm herself. She had been lucky her room was heavily warded to protect the rest of the structure from such… outbursts. When Veela were extremely angry, they didn't turn into birds like the myths suggested, that would be ridiculous. No, Veela were blessed with the ability to produce and manipulate fire, and when they got angry, they lost control of their fire, burning everything around them in a blazing inferno. Which was exactly what had just happened. For the stronger the Veela, the hotter the flames and Fleur's flames where of the brightest blue.

The reason for Fleur's outburst, was the series of emotions she had picked up from her beloved. The intensity and order of these emotions, coupled with the fact she wasn't the one causing them, could only mean one thing. _Some whore is making a move on my mate!_

Yet, despite her rage, Fleur attributed none of the blame to Harry. She would never blame him for anything no matter what he did. No, she was angry at the one making the move, but mostly at herself for not being the one making it!

The new development meant someone was dangerously close to stealing her beloved, if they hadn't already. She needed to act fast. Her original plans would have to be cast aside. She needed to get closer to him as soon as possible and roll the dice.

After activating the restoration array, to reset her room to its former state. She began to brainstorm. The first task was a month away, and the ball two months out. Her original plan was to impress him during the first task, ask him to the ball and start their relationship that night. It was no longer viable.

She searched her mind for anything that could be useful, writing them down on a piece of parchment. The wand weighing ceremony was in two weeks, a good opportunity to interact with him but far from enough. She needed something big.

As she thought, she focused on her bond, finding her mate was not in the Gryffindor tower. Instead, it seemed he was on the fourth flour, _near_ Gryffindor tower, and had been for the last few hours. _Interesting. _

She remembered how angry she had been a few moments before, when her mate had felt overwhelming hurt and betrayal earlier in the night. Looking at his current situation, it was now obvious his roommates had somehow betrayed him, and he was avoiding them. _Are they the ones who put his name in or something? _

Either way, she was going to find a way to make them pay. No one hurt her beloved and got away with it!

Contemplating the information before her, a plan began to form. She tentatively wrote down the steps on the piece of parchment and evaluated the stratagem.

It wasn't ideal, but if she didn't execute it, she was fucked. Or, to be exact, wouldn't be.

Satisfied enough with her idea, the Veela finally looked up. Her room had been restored and was now presentable should, by some miracle, Harry come by. But more shockingly, the sun was rising. It seemed the Veela had another sleepless night thinking about her mate…

_Harry POV_

Harry still woke up at 7 o'clock despite having only slept two hours. The reason? He was hungry. Having gone through periods of near starvation during his childhood, Harry's body made it a point never to skip an opportunity to eat.

Opening his eyes, Harry realized he wasn't in his dorm. Instead, he was in a large, seemingly luxurious bedroom. He briefly panicked before remembering where he was. Once more in awe at the result of his work, Harry stepped out of bed.

He soon noticed he was still in casual clothes and needed to change. Remembering he had left his trunk in his dorm, Harry briefly considered returning there. But the thought of his 'friends' and what they had said to him still made his blood boil. While he was pretty sure they would come to apologize today or tomorrow, he decided he needed at least a few days to cool off before forgiving them.

He really needed someone to go get his trunk for him. Just as he started thinking for a solution, he heard a pop.

"D-Dobby?"

"Harry Potter needs something, sir?"

"Uhm, well. Yes, I do need my trunk. But-"

"At once Harry Potter, sir!"

And with that, Dobby popped out of existence, only for him to pop back moments later a trunk at his feet. Dobby snapped his fingers, and in an instant Harry's clothes flew out of his trunk, organizing themselves in the wardrobe he had created, more as a decoration than anything else.

"Thank you, Dobby!"

"No worries, Harry Potter sir. Dobby will always be of service to the great Harry Potter."

With those words, Dobby slowly faded away. _Weird…_ _but useful._ Walking over to his newly filled wardrobe, Harry dressed himself in his uniform.

Walking to the door, he whispered '_ash nazg' _and the wall rotated allowing him to emerge from his new lair. As soon as he was outside, the wall rotated once more and anyone walking by would only see a suit of armor.

When Harry finally got to the Great Hall, the reactions were varied. Slytherins sneered, Hufflepuffs glared, Ravenclaws ignored and most of Gryffindor cheered. Of the Gryffindors not cheering, Hermione just rolled her eyes at the House's antics while Ron, Dean and Seamus were split between a glare, a sneer and trying to ignore him.

Sitting further down from where he usually sat, Harry began eating. Quickly realizing he wasn't coming over, Hermione slid away from Ron and the others to sit by Harry's side, implicitly declaring her side and earning a hard look from Ron. Immediately after coming over, his ever-curious best friend inquired.

"So, what happened last night?"

Harry was confused. Did she mean the Goblet of Fire? The kiss? The chamber he made from an old classroom? Or just the argument with Ron? Not knowing how much his friend knew, Harry probed.

"A lot, what exactly are you referring to?"

"Come on, Harry. Neville heard the yelling and Lav saw you storm out. Something happened."

Harry proceeded to tell her what Ron and his roommates had said to him, earning an indignant look from the genius muggle-born.

"I can't believe they're so stupid! Harry, I'm sure they didn't mean it. They just overreacted and are too stubborn to apologize."

"I know, but I can't just forget what they said-"

Harry was interrupted when two hands covered his eyes.

"guess who~"

"Katie, its you. It's always you…"

Plopping down next to him the chaser sulked.

"Tch. You're no fun. Anyway, gossip time! The word around town is that your friends are picking on you."

"I guess you could say that, but it's more like they pissed me off."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, the rest of the house stands with you. Your roommates are in for a rough time."

Suddenly realizing something, Hermione asked worriedly.

"Wait, Harry, so where did you sleep?"

"Why? you want to pay me a visit?" Harry teased.

Blushing heavily, Hermione shook her head furiously.

"W-what? No, I-I was just worried!"

"Relax, he's just teasing. But do answer, Harry. She may not visit you, but I might." Katie winked.

Harry laughed as Hermione blushed more heavily. Neither of them hearing the sound of a glass shattering from the direction of the Ravenclaw table.

"Well if you must know, I made myself a cozy little spot. And you're _both _welcome to stop by."

Quickly noticing the implication, Harry added.

"You know, for a cup of coffee or whatever."

"Is that what youngsters call it these days? My, my Mr. Potter, what are you suggesting to a pair of innocent maidens?"

"I would hardly call you an innocent maiden, Katie."

"Ouch. I'll have you know, I'm as pure a maiden as they come."

"I have no doubt on the part about you being a pure maiden, Angelina and Alica make fun of you for it often enough. It's the innocent part I'm skeptical of. Besides the twins, I think no one comes close to the amount of mayhem you cause…"

"Touché…"

As they continued to chat, Harry noticed a few heads turn when Fleur Delacour left the Great Hall, yet only Harry paid any attention to the handful of Slytherins getting out shortly after her.

_Fleur POV_

Fleur counted seven, less than she had hoped but it would have to do. The breath-taking Veela was regularly followed by students with less than pure intentions, she usually either lost them or kicked their asses, but today these wannabe rapists would be of use to her. She led them to the fourth floor around the area she had sensed her beloved the previous night. The floor was deserted and while the Slytherins stalking her thought she was cornered, in reality, she was the one who cornered them.

"Hey! Veela whore-"

Irritated, the French witch waved her hand and before the arrogant Slytherin could finish his sentence all seven students stiffened. Fleur had simply needed to flash her allure at medium intensity to petrify them.

Veela allure came in many forms. While the weaker Veela could only use it to attract people, the stronger ones could use it for all kinds of things. Luckily, Fleur had one of the strongest allures in history. She could use it to control people, to make them faint, or in this case petrify them, she was even one of the few Veela able to use their allure to kill. Indeed, on a non-resistant person a fully focused, maxed allure blast from Fleur would cause a sudden heart attack.

Of course, having a strong allure meant her mate was proportionally resistant. And while it was a little frustrating, it also meant she wouldn't accidentally kill her beloved, for Veela tended to let loose when… getting intimate.

Sensing her mate was still in the Great Hall, she began to dramatize the scene. She cast a stunner on two of the petrified students, a jelly-legs at another, a bone breaker at one's leg, and a knockback curse on another. She then walked over to the scattered students and used their wands to cast various incapacitating curses, including an Incarserus which she sliced with her own wand. She also cast a minor slicing curse at her clothes using one of their wands, taking care not to damage her perfect skin or show anything too revealing.

Sensing her mate was on the move she immediately got back to her previous position and waited till he was close before undoing the petrification on the only two standing students.

"-come service… your… betters"

The Slytherin finished his previous sentence while confusingly looking at his fallen friends. But before he could reconsider, Fleur blasted him and his last remaining friend with some allure making his reason get tossed out. The two Slytherins immediately ran at the beautiful Veela. Fleur positioned herself to avoid being touched, no matter what the plan was, she wouldn't let anyone besides her beloved touch her.

Sensing her mate was close, Fleur let out a cry for help.

Sure, she didn't like the idea of deceiving her mate, but was she really deceiving him. These students had every intention of forcing themselves on her, she didn't even have to use her allure on them until the last moment. The only thing deceiving she did was allow her mate to be the one to save her. Well, that and making the scene a bit more dramatic, it wasn't really necessary, but she felt it would be more romantic if she looked helpless.

Just as the Slytherins were about to reach her, a voice made them freeze.

"Hey!"

_There he is! My hero!_

_Harry POV_

As Harry was returning to his room to finish his night, he heard a loud cry.

"'elp!"

Rushing towards the sound, Harry soon arrived before a surreal scene. Five bodies littered the corridor, all hit with various incapacitating spells. A helpless Fleur Delacour barely stood, with her uniform torn and a sliced rope laying at her feet. Evidently, two Slytherins were about to tackle the defenseless witch.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. Outraged, Harry took out his wand and called out.

"Hey!"

Immediately, the Slytherins froze, turned around and cast stunning curses at him. Countering with a Protego, Harry quickly counter-attacked with his own stunners that hit the first target but missed the second. The last Slytherin standing tried to make a run for it, but Harry cast a stunner once more, this time hitting his target square in the back.

Before Harry could check whether or not the French witch was okay, a silvery blond missile knocked the air out of him.

"_Merci!_"

"Uh… no problem."

The young wizard answered as the French Veela snuggled into his chest. He wasn't proud to say he found the scene a little exciting. After a few moments, he spoke.

"I'll take you to the infirmary."

"Non! I mean… I just need to go somewhere quiet for a while."

"Oh! Yeah sure, follow me"

Conveniently the incident happened not far from his new lair. Whispering his password, the wall rotated to reveal the luxurious room. Harry noticed Fleur gasped when seeing the room, which made him beam with pride. Until, he remembered his tapestry, it had sounded cool at the time, but now it was just embarrassing. He was itching to rip it off the wall before the witch noticed it.

When the entrance locked shut, he felt the beautiful girl perk up. Reprimanding his insensitivity, Harry led her to the couch. _What kind of man takes a woman who was almost raped into a secluded area!_

"I-I'll go get a teacher"

"Wait." Before he could go, Fleur grabbed his hand.

"Can you stay with me for a beet?" she asked while batting her eyes cutely.

Harry nodded at sat next to her with a bit of discomfort. A few seconds of silence reigned before Fleur spoke.

"Arry, I am zorry for zaying the tournament waz too dangerous for you. I deedn't mean you were weak, I just deedn't want you to get 'urt."

"uh. well it's okay, I didn't even remember"

It had slightly offended him at the time, but he barely remembered. The beautiful witch smiled radiantly and changed the subject.

"So, are you leeving 'ere?"

"Yes, I got into a bit of an argument with my roommates, so I set up shop in this old classroom."

"Dis waz an old classroom? That's amazing! You are so talented!"

Blushing Harry responded humbly until the dreaded moment arrived.

"That is a beau'tiful tapestry! Did you reelly do all those tings?"

Blushing more heavily Harry just wanted to burn that thing.

"Umm… yes…" He whispered.

"That's ees soo cool! Tell me about eet!" she said excitedly.

And so, Harry told her about his adventures in Hogwarts, eventually they ended up talking for at least a few hours. Only when Fleur noticed Harry struggling to stay awake did she offer to let him rest.

What Fleur didn't notice as she left, was the piece of parchment that has slipped out of her pocket and behind a pillow on the couch.

**AN: So yeah, I couldn't help myself and wrote another chapter, the longest one yet at that. There are a lot of descriptions of magic in this chap, which some might find a bit boring, but I feel it needed to be a bit more… magical. It may be a while before the next update, for real this time... **


	6. Chapter 5: Animagus

**AN: I'm Back!**

_Fleur POV_

Fleur was ecstatic, the past hour had easily been one of the best in her life. Thinking back to the time she spent with her beloved, a smile blossomed on her face. When they talked everything was just so... perfect. Being with him just felt right. She had almost confessed her feelings more than once. And caught herself leaning towards his lips a few times, thought he didn't seem to notice. In general, they had gotten much closer during that encounter. _Soon! I can feel it!_ She simply needed a few more encounters like that and victory was hers, it was within arm's reach.

She couldn't wait to get back to her room and plan another run-in with him. But as the Veela reached into her uniform's pocket to retrieve the parchment with her plans on it, her slender fingers felt nothing but the silk lining.

Confused, Fleur checked her other pocket. Only to find a similar sensation. As the young witch began to panic, she patted her whole body hurriedly. But felt nothing aside from her perfect curves. Feeling the tension rising, the silvery blond girl rushed back from whence she came eyes glued to the ground.

As soon as she found herself in front of the suit of armor, she understood what must have happened and horror began to overwhelm her. _Non! Non! Non! Non! _

Impatient to fix the problem, Fleur focused on her bond and found her mate to be in a calm resting state. The Veela couldn't help herself from breathing a sigh in relief. He hadn't found it. There was still hope. She simply needed to retrieve the note.

But how was she going to do that? Knock? Regardless of the fact she would be waking him, the entrance was a rotating 50cm wall of stone. No amount of knocking would be heard on the other side.

No, she needed to sneak in. Knowing the password, it would take her less than a minute. She wasn't comfortable with the idea, but she had no choice.

"_Ash nag_" she whispered

Nothing happened._ Putain de Bordel de Merde! Wasn't it ash nag?_

"_Ass nag_?" she tried

Still nothing. After a few tries of _ash nug, ass nog, az nag._ The Veela gave up. She considered blowing off the wall but realized that would make things far worse than anything he read._ Ok, calm down. Breath. This isn't so bad. yeah! _She had a while before he found it, between now and then she had all the time in the world to- _Who am I kidding it's over…_

As she began to tear up, for some reason Fleur thought back to the story of her grandmother's great-aunt. That poor Veela's mate was already married and deeply in love with his wife by the time she had found him, heartbroken the Veela had underwent the process to become an animagus and masqueraded as his pet Cockatiel for the rest of her life.

At the time Fleur had found the story stupid and pathetic. But now, looking back it sounded like a good plan. Maybe she could find a way to become a cat animagus, that would be ideal. Cats are cute, cuddly, but most importantly get to sleep on the bed. Fleur began to fantasize about snuggling onto Harry's side in cat form. As she was about to get lost in her daydream, she suddenly snapped out of it. _Wait, no! I'm not that desperate! There is still hope! _But thinking back to how wonderful the sensation of snuggling to Harry in cat form would feel like she hesitated._ Although… I guess it wouldn't exactly hurt to have backup plan..._

And so, Fleur spent the rest of the morning at the library reading up on Animagi with zeal, unaware of the suspicious bushy haired witch looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

_Harry POV_

Waking up again at around noon, Harry cursed his internal clock. He had barely gotten 4 hours of sleep before he was awoken by hunger once more. he had planed for 6 hours of sleep, but the whole incident with Fleur Delacour had delayed his scheduled.

Harry was still appalled that fellow Hogwarts students would even think about doing such a thing. Sure she was the hottest girl anyone had ever seen, but if they wanted her they should go the old fashion way. Besides she was funny, kind, understanding, easy to talk to and generally a good person. That some would want to hurt her in such a way was simply disgusting.

But nothing had happened and the beautiful witch luckily got out of the confrontation unscathed. Secretly he was even happy that they had ended up talking like that. Unlike most people who were interested in him as the Boy-Who-Lived, she was interested in him as a person. And not falsely interested, like those who tried to get close to him, she was genuinely interested. Why such a perfect girl was interested in him was beyond him however.

Surprisingly, he found that the short nap had probably given him enough energy for the rest of the day. Straightening up his crumpled uniform, Harry soon began heading towards the great hall. In that moment, Harry felt like Ron. Due to his nap, it felt like he had eaten less than five minutes ago. Yet his body was telling him he was on the verge of starvation.

When Harry entered the Great Hall, he found the reactions of the other students to be much less pronounced than that morning. Another thing he noticed was the isolation of Seamus, Dean and Ron from the rest of the Gryffindor house. It seemed Katie was right, people didn't like the way they had treated him. Even Hermione was sitting away from them further down next to Ginny and Katie.

Yet, from the indignant looks the trio gave him, he felt they wouldn't be apologizing today. Even if they would surely come running back tomorrow or the day after. By gods he was going to enjoy telling them to fuck off. _That_ would make them really sorry!

Plopping down next to Katie who was waving at him, Harry picked out a rather light lunch.

As usual, Ginny rarely spoke and when she did it was fast and incoherent. That poor girl had serious social anxiety. The effects of growing up with six brothers perhaps? Not like he would know, growing up alone. It was a shame because from what he had been told, the girl was very confident and sure of herself when she was only with her friends.

Due to the Redhead's nervousness, he mostly spoke with Katie about quidditch as the first match of the tournament was coming up.

What was unusual was the fact that Hermione had stayed silent for the whole meal. The book worm always had something to say so her silence was unnerving. Unable to take it any longer, Harry asked:

"What wrong, Hermione?"

"Mmm? Oh, nothing."

"Come on, what is it?"

"Well it's just… I was at the library and I saw Fleur Delacour reading some books."

"So? She may be blonde but that doesn't make her illiterate." Said Katie sarcastically

"No. But she's a champion so what she reads probably has to do with the tournament…"

"What was she reading?" asked Harry in a low voice.

"That's the thing. She was reading about Animagi…"

"Why is that strange?" asked Katie confused

"Regardless of the fact that it's highly regulated and many attempts have been made to classify it as dark magic. You don't choose the form you take, it's based on your personality, physique or ancestry. In other words, it's almost random"

"And…?"

"Merlin, Harry! Why would she choose to undergo such a random ritual unless she knew something? There are many advantages to being an Animagus regardless of the form you take. For one Dementors ignore you, so do werewolves and countless other magical creatures. Not to mention you can bypass most wards"

"The first task…"

"Exactly. I think she knows something and that's why she wants to become an Animagus. I think you-"

"*Chomp* Whash makes you think, you seeing her wasn't part of her plan?" Katie interrupted.

"Gods Katie you sound like Ron"

"Hey!"

"And to answer your question: No. she didn't see me."

"Didn't need to see you to know you were there. You're_ always_ at the library..."

"No. You should have seen her. She was so... focused. Regardless, I think you should try, Harry. It's always a benefit"

"Wait! didn't you say it was 'Hazardous', 'Random' and almost 'Dark'?" a voice squeaked hurriedly

This time it was surprisingly Ginny who spoke up. Hermione shook her head.

"That's why I didn't tell you immediately. But thinking back, of all the people who are Animagi, not one has ever been known to have a problem. I think the reason it's portrayed so negatively is so that less people attempt it. After all it's a legal ritual that allows you to bypass most wards. But just to be safe you should ask… you know"'

"Who?" Asked Katie confused

"Someone I know. But I can't tell you who."

"All right then, keep your secrets" Katie pouted.

As soon as he went back to his room, Harry wrote a letter to Sirius asking him about becoming an Animagus.

_Fleur POV_

Fleur's research into Animagi had been fruitful and she was now fully aware of the process to become one. If all else failed, she would just need to undergo the process and hope to become a domesticable animal. Even if she succeeded, the idea of snuggling to Harry in cat form hadn't left the Veela's mind, but she chose to postpone it.

Reassured by the existence of a backup plan, the Veela shifted her attention to a more pressing matter. At lunch she heard the bushy haired girl and Harry whisper about something. She didn't know what, but she was sure she heard her name at some point. Since then, Fleur couldn't stop thinking about it. _Is she trash talking me? Is she the one who tried to steal him? Were they talking about the parchment?! _

She admitted the last one was unlikely because Harry hadn't felt any betrayed or cheated today. But the first two were likely.

She needed to get on those witches' good side. Hermione Granger and Katie Bell, as much as she hated to admit it, were now Harry's closest friends. If she wanted to get Harry, having them put in a good word would go a long way.

The only problem was they were both vying for her mate! Even the seemingly asexual Hermione Granger looked at him longingly. Not to mention how Katie Bell was all over him, she took literally every opportunity to press herself against him!

But she still needed to get at least one of them on her side. Which was why she was waiting around this corner. Hearing footsteps, Fleur stepped out and bumped into a bushy haired figure.

"Oh! Pardon."

"No problem" said the girl as she went down to gather the fallen books.

Crouching down to help her Fleur began to talk.

"Hermione, right?"

Surprised the bookworm looked up.

"Yes actually, most people get it wrong on their first try"

"I understan'd, eet eez a French name."

"Really?" asked Hermione

"Of course. Well… eet ees originally Greek, but eet became an old French name. Back een 1780, zee flag'ship carrying _Le Marquis de La Fayette_ sent to save zee American Independance waz called _L'Hermione."_

"I didn't know that, though my parents did want to be original"

Fleur chuckled.

"Since it also fought een zee _revolution,_ it became famous as _'__La frégate de la liberté'."_

"The frigate of liberty…" Hermione murmured

"Oh? You speek french?"

"Nah, I just know a few words. Tell me more."

And so, the two girls began talking and before they knew it the conversation had shifted to anything from the weather to gossip. Fleur even used this to get a few more details about her beloved. She was delighted to find out he wasn't allergic to any animals, so her cat plan could still work if things went to hell.

"Oh! Look at the time! Sorry, but I really need to return those books. We should do this again."

And with that, Hermione rushed off.

_Harry POV _

_*The next morning*_

The first thing Harry noticed when he woke up was Hedwig perched on the window holding a letter, with a package on the floor below her. _What a smart owl!_

Impatient to know what Sirius had written, he quickly opened the letter. And while lovingly stroking his favorite bird, Harry began to read.

_Dear Harry,_

_From what you tell me there are more to your dreams than just nightmares, the death eater attack at the world cup, your name in the goblet, these can't be just coincidences. You must be careful, Hogwarts isn't safe anymore, there devils are inside the walls. Igor Karkaroff was a Death Eater, Barty Crouch's son was one too and so was Snape. The Triwizard tournament isn't something to be trifled with. Whoever entered your name into the goblet is no friend to you. People die in this tournament, Harry._

_About your question on animagi, you are right. There is very little risk involved, however that doesn't mean the process isn't long, difficult and hazardous. You must keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month before undergoing the ritual, which must be conducted the night of a thunderstorm. Luckily, me and your father kept a record of the process and included a few tips. Turns out, there is a very simply ritual you can use to summon a thunderstorm, which considerably reduces the time necessary. I've sent over a copy of our notes and all the materials you'll need. If you start now, you should be finished two days before the first task._

_Good Luck,_

_S.B_

In the package, Harry found a box filled with the materials needed for the ritual, along with a small notebook. Deciding to skip charms this morning, Harry sat down on his sofa to read the notebook. Only to be surprised when he felt something beneath his bum. Intrigued, Harry leaned to the side and grabbed the thing causing him discomfort. It was a small piece of parchment.

**AN: Suspense, suspense… please Review! **


	7. Chapter 6: Confessions

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews, even if I don't always answer I do read all of them.**

_Harry POV_

This morning, Harry had potions for the first time since the 'incident' with Daphne. It had been two weeks since that night and Harry had pretty much gotten it out of his mind. But walking down the stairs towards the potions classroom and faced with the idea of seeing her again, Harry suddenly felt very nervous.

To distract himself from the matter at hand, Harry thought back to the parchment he had found two weeks ago.

As soon as he had found it, Harry knew it wasn't his. Knowing only one other person had been here, he immediately deduced it belonged to Fleur Delacour. Out of curiosity he unfolded the parchment.

What he found written in the most beautiful hand writing was surprising to say the least:

_Info:_

_-CPB ds 2sm_

_-T1 ds 1ms_

_-YB ds 2ms_

_-Demenagement_

_Outils potentiel:_

_-Mec chelou en vert_

_-N.L_

_-Quidditch_

_idees:_

_-__Jouer au Q? x_

_-__env N.L ? x_

_-Utiliser MCV?_

_Etapes:_

_-att que MCV suis_

_-ramner vers E4_

_-att _

_-faire genre _

Obviously, these seemed to be notes for something, which would have been hard enough to understand under normal circumstances, even of the whole thing wasn't in French.

Harry had taken French in Elementary, but he had only learnt the basics. Like everyone else he knew 'bonjour', 'au revoir', how to count to ten and the colors, but that was it. The only words he understood were the ones close enough to English like 'Quidditch', 'info', 'potentiel'. But the one French word he recognized 'vert'. Which he was like 80% sure, meant green.

He had no idea how it all fell together, but he didn't really need to know. It was already intrusive to read the parchment. What if it had been something personal?

He had been meaning to return the parchment to Fleur, but he had only seen her a few times since and the parchment had slipped out of his mind. But this afternoon was the wand weighing ceremony, he would give it back to her then.

As he entered the potions classroom, Harry spotted Daphne already seated at their desk. Sitting down next to her after a quick greeting the two of them sat in silence, which wasn't entirely unusual. However, today it made Harry uncomfortable. He felt they needed to talk and so:

"Daphne about the other night-"

"Look, Potter. Forget it. I made a mistake, ok?"

"Oh. yeah sure."

While Harry's voice was neutral, he was surprised to find he felt a little disappointed. He didn't notice the glare Tracey Davis sent in Daphne's direction. Try to take his mind of the blunt rejection, Harry nervously ran his tongue against the shrunken mandrake leaf stuck on the top of his mouth. Even though the notes said that could accidently break the sticking charm.

The notebook had been very useful, it had taken the Marauders several tries to become Animagi, so they had come across many of the common mistakes. The tips included in the notebook had been very useful. For example, there was a modified sticking charm that made it easier to stick things to a wet surface. They also suggested shrinking the mandrake leaf and using four of them at a time to increase chances of success. Which turned out to be useful as Harry had already swallowed one.

Harry had also been lucky as it was coincidentally a full moon the night he decided to undergo the process and all the ingredients had been sent over by Sirius who had old stashes at Grimmauld place and told him where to find the special dew he would need.

But the most interesting part of the notebook was the legal research the marauders had done. It turned out there were a few exceptions regarding the 'mandatory' registration. For one, members of Noble Families didn't need to register their form, only that they were animagi. And receivers of the Order of Merlin first class, didn't need to register at all. As it turns out he was both.

He learned the Potter Clan was once so rich they eclipsed the Malfoys and the Blacks combined. During that period, they bought their way into high wizarding nobility. Unfortunately, they lost most of their fortune funding the Global Wizarding War against Grindelwald. Of course, they still had money, but much less than back then.

He also learned that he had received an Order of Merlin first class for 'Ending the Wizarding War' back in 1981. All this had caused him to research himself to see if there were other thing about him he didn't know.

He had been in for a fun afternoon.

After the fall of Voldemort and end the war the ministry tried to unite the divided country by launching a grand propaganda campaign starring none other than him. According to them he was some kind of war hero who defeated Voldemort using wandless magic without even realizing, obviously putting a tragic spin on him being orphaned. The way he was described in official communications made Chuck Norris look like a pixie.

_Fleur POV_

Fleur was leaning against a wall reading a book, not far from the potions classroom. A few hours before she felt Harry was disappointed about something, probably a bad grade from that annoying potions professor. She had overheard him bad mouthing her beloved more than once and deeply disliked the individual.

Anyway having decided she was going to comfort Harry, she waited outside the potions class to 'coincidently' run into him. Perhaps even find an excuse to have lunch with him before the wand weighing ceremony.

In the past two weeks she hadn't felt anything too unusual aside from this morning, indicating he hadn't found the parchment yet. Maybe it had slipped under something? Whatever it was, she hoped it continued long enough for her to get another excuse to get into that room.

The door to the potions room opened and the three failures rushed out. Fleur looked at them hatefully, they still hadn't apologized to Harry and the latter was feeling more betrayed every day they postponed it.

Soon Harry and Daphne walked out. Fleurs eyes narrowed at the blond Slytherin. But to her surprise, an average looking brown haired girl she had come to know was called Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass's best friend, grabbed the violet eyed student and dragged her away in the opposite direction.

Torn between her desire to spend time with her mate and her desire to collect information on her rival, Fleur reluctantly chose to follow the pair of Slytherins. Casting an invisibility charm on herself, the Veela sneakily stalked her prey.

Tracey suddenly stopped and pulled Daphne around a corner, looking around to make sure no-one was there before turning to her friend.

"What was that!"

"What? I did what you told me." Daphne answered nonchalantly

"I told you to play it off!"

"And I did…"

"No, you didn't! You shut it down!"

"What do you mean?"

"You fucked up… You should have just _acted_ like nothing happened, not deny it."

"Urg. This is all your fault anyway."

"Don't spring this on me!"

"You're the one who told me to try and talk to him privately"

"Yes..."

"You told me to be bold. And you told me to kiss him if I felt like it."

"NO! No, no, no! I told you to kiss him if _the moment_ felt like it! Not sexually assault him! How could you even think that! Didn't it ring any alarm bells?"

"Of course it did, but I trusted you…"

"Awww- Wait, no! Don't try to spin this on me again! Why would you even have so much trust in me?"

"Trace, you have had 7 boyfriends, going on 8. That's 8 more than me. The same way you differ to me in almost everything because I know what I'm talking about, I differ to you when it comes to boys because you know what you're talking about…" Daphne sighed

"Did you just call me a brainless skank?"

"If you can't tell, then at least the brainless part is true…"

"Hey! Fuck you!"

"This whole thing started because you wanted to screw Zabini. So, no matter what you said or didn't say, it's still your fault."

"Daph, three weeks ago I would have eaten the sorting hat before I believed you were even capable of love…"

For one of the few times in her life, Daphne Greengrass blushed.

"Love is a big word… let's say open to the idea of potentially letting him date me"

"Okay, whatever. This is bad but you can fix it. You just need to-"

"Why should I listen to you anymore? I've been following your advice till now and you suck at this…"

"Oh Really? Then what would you do?"

"Well I would wait. Give him a few hints during the first task and the quidditch match. Then I'd tell him Malfoy was trying to force me to go to the ball with Goyle or Crabbe. Knowing him, he'd offer to take me instead. After the ball I'd kiss him and tell him I lied about Malfoy."

Tracey stayed silent for a few moments before answering.

"Okay, that would work. From now on, it's up to you!" she said putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Now let's go eat."

And with that the two left leaving a literally fuming Veela behind. Barely holding back long enough until the pair had left. A large flare of blue flame scorched the spot the two Slytherins stood moments before.

Harry POV

During lunch, Harry spent most of his time reading the notebook instead of talking to Katie and Hermione, causing the former to pout.

Harry had only 18 days until the first task and still had no idea what to expect, he was hoping that by knowing enough about animagi he could deduce what Fleur was trying to prepare for and guess what she knew.

He had gone through the book cover to cover and still had no idea what to expect. It could be anything from Werewolves to Manticores, or just strong wards. Whatever it was Hermione was right, being an Animagus had dozens of side benefits that made it worth it regardless of the form he took.

However, Harry was still curious. What form would he take? A stag, like his father? A dog, like Sirius? Perhaps he might even get lucky and have a magical creature as a form. Like anyone he hoped he would at least be something cool. He probably wouldn't be able to live well with a toad as his Animagus form.

After lunch, Harry headed to the Wand Weighing Ceremony. Although he was technically early, everyone was already there. He nodded to Cedric and Victor before waving to Fleur who seemed a bit unnerved by something.

He quickly noticed the bi-spectacle blonde and the photographer standing to the side. They were briefly introduced by Bagman as reporters for the daily prophet who were here to do a piece on the individual contest. As soon as he had been given permission, the photographer immediately began snapping photos of the group.

After a few pictures, the Blonde woman introduced as Rita Skeeter, announced her intention to interview him first, to which he agreed. He was then hurriedly led by the reporter to a nearby broom closet to conduct the interview. No one noticed the glare sent by Fleur Delacour towards the reporter.

"So, Harry. Tell me about yourself."

"Uh, well. I'm fourteen-"

"Yes, about that. How did a wizard so young get into such a dangerous competition?"

"Right off the bat, I want to say I didn't put my name in."

"Come now, Harry…we both know what's really going on" she winked

Realizing he wasn't going to get to her like this and knowing from his research, the power of a well-placed article. Harry decided to try a different approach.

"I think we can agree what's really going on is of little importance, Mrs. Skeeter. What matters is what people read. And we both know they read about me. To tell you the truth, I've recently been considering taking on a spokesperson-"

"Say no more, I'm the person for the job! I'll print whatever you tell me!"

_That was easy…_ When Harry realized the extent of the propaganda concerning him, he finally understood how much of a public figure he was. He was right up there with the Minister and Dumbledore, if not more so.

Due to that, he had decided he would eventually need someone to defend his image and communicate his version of events. He didn't want to become one of those child celebrities who ended up having their childhoods ruined by reporters. It seemed he had found someone earlier than he had expected.

"I'm willing to give it a try. If I find you're good enough, I'll stick with you."

"Of course, Of course."

Rita skeeter was never into major journalism, she was always more or less a gossip columnist. Becoming the mouthpiece of one of the most important people in Britain, even on a trial basis, was far greater an opportunity than the incendiary piece she was planning to release.

"Okay, so first off I didn't put my name in, some else did. Who did it is up for debate, it's not like there a lack of motive or of suspects?"

"Who?"

"Igor Karkaroff, he's an ex-Death Eater. Crouch, his son was an ex-Death Eater. Even Professor Snape was a Death Eater though he supposedly turned spy and was never convicted. Not to mention the dozens of students whose parents are convicted or suspected Death Eaters."

Skeeter's enchanted quill danced on her notepad furiously.

"Write a piece questioning how such a security violation was even possible, how I was still made to compete despite it and questioning who could have done such a thing."

Skeeter nodded as she hurriedly went over the notes.

"It's too bad you know, people love a rebel."

Harry chuckled.

"Nah, they like heroes, they like conspiracies, they like mysteries. That's what they want, that's what you'll give them."

After settling a few more issues the two emerged. Rita Skeeter interviewed the other champions for form's sake and took a few more photos before the ceremony began.

As you might expect, nothing went wrong during the ceremony. People were slightly surprised by Fleur having a Veela's hair as her core, but that was it.

As everyone was beginning to leave, Harry held Fleur back.

Fleur POV

As everyone was leaving, Fleur found herself alone with Harry. The French witch had been trying to find an excuse to talk to him when she heard:

"Oh. Fleur, wait up!"

Her heart had momentarily stopped._ He _was talking to her. This was great! Enough to make her forget about the whole incident with Daphne, and it had taken her the full hour to calm down after that. She turned around with a bright smile.

"Yes?"

And all of a sudden, her face fell. Horror overwhelmed her when she realized what he was holding. In Harry's hand was the parchment. _He knows!_ Fleur began to panic, she spoke as fast as she could.

"eet's nut what you tink! I deedn't meen to do ett like dis! I just really like you!"

Harry simply froze as if surprised. Confused, Fleur looked at the parchment to make sure it was the one she had dropped. It was. So why wasn't he angry?

"You deedn't read it?" Hesitantly asked Fleur as heat began rushing to her cheeks.

"I… Um, it's in French"

Suddenly remembering what she had actually written Fleur wanted to hit herself. In her panic, she had completely forgotten he probably wouldn't understand the note even if he found it. Taking the note he had handed to her. Fleur read it again, it seemed perfectly understandable to her:

_Info:_

_-wand weighing ceremony in 2 weeks _

_-1st Task in 1 month_

_-Yule Ball in 2 months_

_-Changed room _

_Potential tools_

_-Weird guys in Green_

_-Neville Longbottom_

_-Quidditch_

_ideas:_

_-Play Quidditch? x_

_-send Neville Longbottom? x_

_-Use Weird guys in Green?_

_steps:_

_-Wait for the Weird guys in Green to follow_

_-bring them to the 4th flour_

_-wait_

_-pretend_

Realizing the implications of what she had said, Fleur wanted to dig a hole and disappear.

"So what was it?"

"N-nothing..."

"About what you said."

"I-I…"

While initially embarrassed, she suddenly realized it was the perfect opportunity to tell him how she felt. Braving the overwhelming fear of rejection, she made a leap of faith.

"I really like you! Please go out with me!"

**AN: Right, so I'm a native French speaker and I felt like flexing… Please Review!**


	8. Chapter 7: Revelations and Relationships

**AN: New Chap !**

_Harry POV_

When Harry woke up this morning, he was still very confused. He kept thinking back to the previous afternoon and it continued to make no sense. Fleur Delacour, an extremely talented witch, 3 years his senior, and one of the most beautiful women in the world, had screamed at him to go out with her before running away in the opposite direction like a frightened schoolgirl.

Since then Harry had checked himself in the mirror countless times and concluded either something was wrong with his glasses or the french wtich had really bad taste.

Harry never considered himself ugly, if anything he was better than average, some even went as far as to call him mildly handsome. But he was far from considering himself a 'hot guy', and certainly not on the level of Fleur Delacour.

As he walked towards the great hall for breakfast, he couldn't help but think about the possibility of starting a relationship with the french witch. He had never been in a relationship before, he didn't really know what he was supposed to do or how to act. But he got along with Fleur and with Daphne making it clear she wasn't interested, women weren't exactly lining up for him. It was as good an opportunity as any.

When he sat down in front of Hermione, he did his best not to seem preoccupied. But he was violently surprised when Hermione brought it up.

"Have you noticed anything unusual about Fleur Delacour, Harry?"

"W-what? Why?"

"Well, I'll say it… dat ass!" added Katie as she plopped down next to him.

After a short glare directed at the Gryffindor chaser, Hermione pressed.

"Well she's… pretty. But I guess you knew that"

"She's not just pretty, Harry. The way people act around her… it's surreal."

"Well some people are just rude. I mean did you expect anything more from _Ron._"

Said Harry with a tinge of disgust.

"It goes beyond that. The first night when she touched your hand, I sorta felt something, it was like a wave hitting me. Not to mention Ron almost fainted, and even Dumbledore looked at her. And it wasn't just then, regularly people just suddenly start staring at her. Even Cedric, and with Cho Chang right next to him too."

"Now that you mention it, I did feel something weird back then too." said Katie

"What are you getting at?"

"Well at first I thought it was some kind of charm, so I looked it up." Said Hermione as she pulled out a few dusty tomes. Because of these, she had gotten a few strange looks from the librarian… It had taken her forever to fix the misunderstanding.

"And?"

"Well that's the thing, apart from love potions there's nothing that comes close to the effect she had."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"I'm not finished. So, I got thinking, maybe she's using an artifact or something." she said as she added two more books to the pile.

"Turns out there are a few artifacts capable of achieving similar effects, all of them restricted or illegal. But every one of them one thing in common, they used various ingredients derived from Veela."

"What's Veela?" asked Katie perplexed

"Wait I heard about that before, Fleur's wand core is Veela hair."

"Doesn't surprise me. It is my strong belief Fleur Delacour isn't fully human, but a Veela."

Hermione dropped one last, very thin book on the table, on the cover of which one could read '_Report on Hollister's study of Veela, 1864'_

"... again, what's a Veela?" asked a frustrated Katie.

Hermione opened the book and began to read.

"The Veela are a unique species of Demi-Human. While they have the appearance of beautiful women, they are also gifted with the innate ability of 'allure', a strong aura that entrances any wizard. While Veela have shown to have control over that aura, they cannot fully contain it and are known to let it loose if startled or distracted."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad…"

"Veela can also produce and control fire going up to 826°C and probably higher as subjects interviewed tell us temperatures can vary depending on strength"

"Ok, that's gonna be a problem…" admitted Katies

"Wait. We're still not sure she is one." defended Harry.

Hermione coughed twice and motioned towards the end of the table where one could clearly see Seamus, Thomas and Ron, who had gone redder than his hair and had a bit of drool dripping onto his plate, staring intently at something behind Harry.

Following their gazes, Harry's eyes suddenly met the sapphire eyes of Fleur Delacour sitting at the Ravenclaw table. Afraid the suspected veela would catch him looking, Harry wanted to pretend he was simply looking around, but before he could turn his head away, the french witch smiled radiantly and waved at him.

Embarrassed to have been caught, Harry smiled back awkwardly and gave a small wave before turning back to Hermione.

"Well then why don't I feel anything?"

"That's what I thought, since you were unaffected I assumed maybe she wasn't a full veela or something. But then I read further."

Hermione open the thin book to the last page entitled 'culture and tradition' beneath which were two small paragraphs.

"Veela culture seems quite similar to the regional culture they are part of with only a few differences. Firstly, Veela seem to be nomadic, departing their homes when they reach the age of 17. The exact reason for these migrations are unknown, but evidence suggests it is a cultural tradition linked to some sort spiritual ceremony. While details remain obscure, it seems these migrations are akin to journeys of spiritual self-discovery. Typically, the Veela will settle down when the find a husband and start a family".

"Well Fleur is 17 and she isn't going on some spiritual journey, so what exactly does that prove?" asked Katie

"Katie this was written in 1864, chances are customs have changed…now let me finish this is the part I'm talking about." deadpanned Hermione

"Second, there is evidence that allure resistant wizards exist. These wizards are particularly sought out by Veela when searching for a husband. While we do not know if every Veela marry allure resistant wizards, the married veela we have encountered all had resistant husbands, suggesting that allure resistance is a very attractive trait for a young Veela."

_That's why she likes me!_ Harry suddenly realized. If she was a Veela then most people she met treated her like Ron did or worse. Now that he thought about it, Harry was the only male student who actually had a conversation with her since she got here.

"So, Harry is resistant? That's good, she can't use her allure on you!" exclaimed Katie

But Hermione wasn't as excited, in fact she seemed more concerned than before. Harry was about to ask her what was wrong when a melodic voice sounded from behind him.

"Hi, Harry."

The three of them swiveled their heads to notice Fleur Delacour standing behind Harry.

_Fleur POV_

Fleur usually had tunnel vision when with Harry, but even she noticed Hermione Granger desperately try to hide a thin book that was just on the table. She didn't quite manage to catch the title, but circumstance made her deduce it was related to her in some way.

"Am I Bozering you?"

"N-no we were just talking-"

"Are you a Veela ?" asked Katie bluntly.

The other two looked at the rogue Gryffindor in horror while Fleur was simply confused.

"Yez, you did nut know?"

At this, all three were taken aback. _Why are they surprised? _However, now that she thought about it, she hadn't told anyone explicitly. She had assumed they would figure it out or someone would tell them. To her, it seemed about as obvious as the fact she was french.

However, she was now afraid her assumption would be misunderstood as deception. What if Harry thought she was trying to hide it from him?

"I zought you knew, everyone knows. And - uhm- I meen eet eez -uhm- obvious?"

She blurted before she quickly added:

"Nut zat eet eez your fault, Harry."

There were a few seconds of silence before Katie Bell stood up.

"Well, now we know! But as much as I love watching you bask in awkward silence, I have a potions class to get to."

As if suddenly realizing something, Hermione hurriedly checked the clock and her eyes widened in horror. She gathered her books faster than humanly possible and bolted after a quick 'bye Harry'.

In seconds Fleur and Harry were left alone. And while internally elated, Fleur had to admit this made the situation more awkward. Sizing the opportunity to speak, Fleur hurriedly asked:

"Maybe we should talk somewhere more private?"

After all, she was starting to get more stares than usual standing there behind him. Harry nodded and they left the great hall together followed by jealous looks.

"So, you can make fire?" asked Harry

Fleur beamed at the opportunity to show off and proudly exhibited a blue flame in the palm of her hand.

"My record eez 1956°C."

She said while cutely looking at Harry as if saying '_praise me'._

"Wow, that is impressive."

Smiling radiantly Fleur continued walking until they soon reached Harry's room. Elated at the opportunity to get into Harry's room again, she forgot to pay closer attention to the password. _Damm it! No, wait. I shouldn't be invading his privacy like that! Bad Fleur!_

Barely a second later, the wall rotated to reveal the luxurious room, she had been extremely impressed when she had learned he managed to make something so good out of a classroom. And it wasn't just because he was her mate, she had been genuinely impressed. Even she couldn't have done something that good.

Then again, she was aware that Veela tented to view things with a filter when it came to their mates. She remembered quite painfully the time her father had picked up singing. And how despite how glaringly awful he was at it, her mother seemed convinced he would have had a wonderful career as an opera singer. It had taken an intervention from the entire family to make him stop. Even then her mother still asked him to sing from time to time…

But the young Veela was like 90% sure her awe was genuine.

"Please, come in"

She didn't need to be told twice and quickly went in as if he was going to change his mind. Seizing up the room again, Fleur noticed the room looked more lived in than before. After all, it had been a few weeks. A pair of pants and a T-Shirt were thrown over a chair, a few socks in the corner and a pile of sweaters on the table.

But aside from what was to be associated with a 'boy's room', generally the room was quite clean. The bed was made neatly, the carpet straight, the couch clear and most surprisingly there were no clothes splayed on the floor.

As Harry directed her to the couch, Fleur felt something unusual. A glare, a violently hateful glare. Turning to look were the glare came from she noticed a snow-white owl perched on the window that was staring daggers at her. _That wasn't there last time._

_*Screech*_

When Harry sat down, the owl flew over to his shoulder and lovingly nuzzling the boy while occasionally looking at Fleur as if it was going to gouge her eyes out. Harry gently scratched the bird's neck as the french witch looked on jealously. _Damm bird…_

"This is Hedwig, my owl. As you can see, she's very attached to me." Harry joked

"Oh yez, wat a cute bird" Fleur said with a chuckle

But internally: _She!? Fucking bitch!_ _Even the owl is against me!_ However, she showed none of it and calmly sat down next to Harry.

"So… Veela? What's that like."

"Normal I guez. Sometimes zee stares get annoying, but I ignore zem. Zee hardest part eez controlling Allure."

"Oh?"

"Yez, eet eez like always having to remember someting… eet eez exhausting so I can't be around people too long."

"Except if they're immune, right?"

Suddenly Fleur tensed. _Does he know? _If he did know about the whole mating process it made things much more complicated. Regardless of the fact men didn't respond well to the idea of someone they didn't know proclaiming them to be their soulmates. Some people didn't really understand the bond and felt they would be taking advantage of the Veela, and she was 100% sure Harry was one of them. He would try to break the bond and 'free her' before he accepted her feelings.

From one perspective that was understandable. But to Veela, the bond was like knowing who the perfect person for you was and where to find them. There was no wondering if there was someone out there, no wondering if it was really 'the one', no self-doubt or hesitation. Compared to that, humans spend their lives searching blindly and hoping to chance upon someone close enough to their ideal.

The second thing she noticed was that her allure had been blasting freely since she entered the room, but she decided to leave it on since Harry was immune and she might as well relax.

"Yes, except if zey are immune. But zat eez very rare."

"Like me?"

Fleur started fidgeting which didn't go unnoticed.

"Yez, like you…"

"Fleur, when you said you like me? Is it because I'm immune?"

"Non! ...well, yes and no. I like you. I like zat you don't look at me stupidly. But at zee same time… I -uhm- want you to?"

At this moment it was impossible for the french witch to get any redder and she wasn't the only one. Harry had also reddened considerably. The only one that remained white as snow and visibly annoyed was Hedwig.

*Screech*

"I-I never had a girlfriend before." Suddenly admitted Harry

"Me neizer! Boyfriend I mean. Not zat I had a girlfriend eizer!" Fleur defended

"So, I'd be your first relationship? Ever?"

"Yez!" Fleur said proudly.

_And last!_ But she omitted that as she could clearly feel the pressure mounting in her mate. A few moments passed as Fleur held her breath while Harry seemed in deep thought. Hedwig was getting agitated and started nudging her master while glaring hatefully at fleur.

"W-well I guess I couldn't hurt to give this a try…"

**AN: Sorry it took so long to update, I've been a bit busy with school and general lack of willpower **** Unfortunately the future doesn't seem brighter. Finals are coming up and I'll be interning for most of summer. I will however try to update whenever I can (at least 1 a month I hope). Please review.**


	9. Side Story: An owl's devotion

**AN: hey guys, here's a little side story as you wait for the next chapter.**

Hedwig had always considered herself the smartest bird in the world and constantly looked down on all her peers as a result. For while most magical owls could only understand basic commands, she could fully understand English and even read it, to an extent.

Because of this, she had long resented her hatching inside a breeding area for pet owls and spent most her life as a chic hooting the unfairness of it all to anyone who would listen. In her mind she was destined to be an elite ministry owl, not the pet of some pompous wizard.

As one might imagine, her purchase by a fat, hairy and visibly dumb half-giant had annoyed the young bird beyond measure. Luckily, as it turned out she had been a birthday gift to a young boy by the name of Harry Potter, a rather famous wizard she had heard of and read about.

While she had been relieved her owner wasn't the half-giant, Hedwig had still been annoyed at being the pet owl of probably pompous wizard. After all, pet owls were considered mail boxes in the wizarding world. Hardly fitting for the world's smartest bird.

_Well at least he's cute_.

However, not two weeks later, the owl had long forgotten her ambitions as a ministry owl and could not fathom being anything other than the adorable 11-year old human's pet owl. Unlike other wizards, Harry didn't treat her like a mailbox but as a companion. Every night he would stroke her plumage, make sure she had clean water, and he always picked out the special owl treats she liked. He would also talk to her about his life, problems, and loneliness while she hooted her support and would often take her out so she could fly around.

The young wizard's affection and care had quickly melted the snow-white owl's feathery heart.

Throughout the years, she always stayed by his side, preferring his window to the owlery where she was subject to her peers' pestering. She had also shifted her sleeping time to the night, so she could spend the day with him or watching over him from a rooftop. She had also grown to hate delivering letters as it meant she was away from her beloved owner, however since it made him happy whenever she brought a reply, she never complained.

In the summer they would spend the most time together as Harry was separated from his friends and she would do her best to distract him from the annoying humans that shared his summer dwelling.

Yet despite her deep affection for Harry, Hedwig grew to look down more and more on other humans. It had started, in her owner's second year when Harry's friends didn't reply to his letters and she had to comfort him when he thought they had forgotten about him.

And while it was later revealed their letters were intercepted by a house elf, she had already judged them as unworthy. Afterall, since the first incident she had constantly hooted at them to hand _her _their replies directly, but they kept shooing her away. Oh, the house elf hadn't gotten off easy either, Hedwig made sure he suffered for the sorrow he had caused her beloved owner.

But the damage had been done. They had made her Harry cry and she had passed judgement. Since then the owl had begun to pass judgement more and more, until she decided no human could ever be worthy of her beloved owner.

This saddened her as it condemned him to loneliness, but she preferred that to seeing him heartbroken. And besides, he would always have her. Magical owl had lifespans similar to wizards and she took care of her health so she wouldn't die prematurely. Yet Hedwig still found herself wishing she could become human so she could be there for him more.

Which brings us to a few weeks ago, when she returned from watching the champion selection to find her owner's bed empty. This hadn't alarmed her as her owner had a habit of wandering of at night, and despite how much it worried her every time, she had a protocol in place. Silently, she took off and flew to the owlery where she instructed her minions to look out for her owner.

Through her superior intellect, Hedwig had easily submitted the other birds of Hogwarts to her will and while she couldn't order them to go against their owners, asking them to search for Harry or 'bombard' people she found annoying was an easy feat.

What did alarm the snow-white owl was the lack of news by the end of the night. Usually her owner would be back in bed before dawn or in the infirmary. Yet he wasn't and sunrise meant her nocturnal peers would retreat to their dwellings, leaving her significantly under staffed for the manhunt.

Luckily, she overheard the unworthy red hair talking about the fight with Harry and how he had stormed off. This both reassured and angered the owl. And after leaving instructions to a squad of pigeons regarding the unworthy red hair's punishment, she hurriedly flew away to find her owner.

She finally found him at the end of the day inside a luxurious bedroom she could have sworn used to be an old classroom. Regardless, she swooped down on the window ledge and tapped the glass a few times with her beak until he opened. While initially angry her owner had left without her, the owl's anger quickly dissipated after a few neck scratches and a well-deserved praise. Her owner had thoughtfully set up her perch next to the window with fresh water and the owl treats she liked.

All things considered Hedwig liked the new dwelling, here she was free to appreciate her owner's presence without the incessant snoring of the unworthy red hair.

As the sun began to set, Hedwig was about to get some well-deserved sleep after hooting her owner goodnight. That is, until she saw _it_.

_It_ had been inconspicuous and if she had anything less than perfect eyesight, she would have missed it. Taking care not wake Harry, she flew across the room onto the couch, landing softly so as to not damage the cushions despite the rage bubbling inside her.

She carefully examined the incriminating element as her amber eyes narrowed, _it_ was a silvery blond strand of human hair and judging by the length, belonging to a female human. She hadn't been gone for all but 24 hours and some unworthy harlot was already trying to weasel her way into her beloved owner's life! She wouldn't have it!

Her adorable owner was sweet but naive, he wouldn't be able to discern the intruder's true intentions, but she could. Harry was far too trusting to notice those that would take advantage of him and needed her to shield him from them. It was her duty as a pet to protect her owner from being hurt by those unworthy of him!

After delivering a letter to and from her owner's unworthy godfather, Hedwig began her hunt. She put the birds of Hogwarts on the lookout for a girl with long silvery blond hair and soon found _her_. Fleur Delacour. As soon as the snow-white owl paid closer attention to the suspect, she quickly noticed the french student not only followed her owner around but even used some of her own favorite vantage points to watch Harry. Clearly, she had nefarious intentions.

Hedwig tried several times to bust the silvery blond by hooting her whereabouts to her owner, but he thought she was being cute and stroked her plumage instead of noticing the stalker. The owl considered simply gouging the french girl's eyes out, but she didn't want Harry to be disappointed in her.

All of this culminated to the current scene, the stalker had just walked in alongside her owner as Hedwig waited for Harry to come back from breakfast. Angry at her own powerlessness, Hedwig simply glared at the intruder hatefully before protectively perching herself on her beloved owner's shoulder after a cautionary screech, taking care not to harm him with her talons in her rage.

The pair of humans began talking and Hedwig learnt the girl was something called Veela. While she didn't know what it was, she swore she would read up on it and find a weakness she could exploit.

But soon, the conversation began to progress in a dangerous direction and Hedwig grew more and more annoyed at the pestering human. So much so that she had to stop herself from gouging her eyes out more than once.

It didn't take long before the worst possible thing happened and despite her desperate screech, her beloved owner fell into the unworthy harlot's claws…

_You won't get away with this! I won't let you harm my owner!_

**AN: I feel there isn't enough Hedwig centered fanfics, so this little side story is for all you Hedwig fans. I might do a few more of them. But I'll keep the varying POVs to Harry and Fleur for anything related to the main story. Please review.**


	10. Chapter 8: The Full Moon

**AN: Ok so it's been a while, but I made it. Enjoy!**

_Harry POV_

After Harry closed the entrance behind Fleur, he went over to Hedwig who was still a bit worked up. When he had accepted to try dating Fleur, she had tried to hug him a bit too quickly which startled the poor owl on his shoulder who accidently flapped her wing in the french witch's face and pecked her head.

Harry knew Hedwig was a good owl and wouldn't hurt Fleur deliberately, but she had been surprised by the sudden movement. Seeing his pet was still restless, he stroked her for a few seconds and she calmed down.

"Be a bit more careful next time…" he said gently.

*hoot!*

Glancing at his clock he noticed it was still a while before he needed to go to lunch and decided to use the time to think about what had just happened. While he had agreed to dating the french witch, he had still insisted that this was technically on a trial basis and had set forth one major stipulation: it was to remain a secret until they decided otherwise.

Despite what many may think, Harry didn't do well with the kind of attention that came with dating someone like Fleur. But that wasn't the only reason. The main reason for this was that he was nearly certain it would crumble in a matter of weeks. Be it because she would eventually lose interest or because his inexperience would cause him to mess things up, he was convinced that it was going to end quickly and embarrassingly.

When that was going to happen, he didn't want the entire school to be aware of his failure and therefore opted for discretion.

And so, the young wizard spent the day mulling over all the ways this newfound relationship could end and which one was the most likely.

_Fleur POV_

It had been two weeks since the fated moment in Harry's room during which their glorious relationship started and she was viciously attacked by that hateful owl. But the young witch's elation had soon died down when she realized what the terms of the 'relationship' actual implied.

To put it mildly, nothing had changed. They wouldn't talk to each other that much more and Harry was busy with classes or self-study most of the time anyway. Not to mention, he had remained oblivious to her subtle invitations and had outright rejected the idea of them seeing each other at night stating various excuses, that while individually valid reasons, became a clear rejection when taken together.

The only time they spent time together was in the morning before going to class, after lunch when they would sit together at the lake and before dinner. They didn't sit together during meals, which objectively might be a good thing considering how many heads that would turn, but she didn't see it that way.

This disappointment led the french Veela to where she was now. In Hogsmeade, buying the materials necessary for an animagus transformation. With the full moon coming tonight, it was the perfect time to start.

The reason she decided to go through with it was, while perfectly reasonable to her, rather outlandish. She had reasoned that as an animal she could far more easily sneak into her mate's room unnoticed and perhaps even move in without him realizing it. Furthermore, if her animal form became a trusted pet, she would be privy to Harry's doubts and problems far more easily.

However, as her family held no titles in Great Britain and she wasn't in possession of an order of Merlin. She would have to register, something tedious that would waste precious time. And so she decided to simply purchase what she needed on the black market. Worst case scenario, her diplomatic immunity would keep her covered if she was caught.

Her only problem, was that she was lost…

The message from the seller had clearly indicated a turn left after the house with the broken gutter, then a right just before the shop with a horse logo, then straight until the fork, into the alley behind the Bar.

She had dutifully followed the instructions and now waited behind the bar. Only it was a full 45 minutes after the agreed upon time, and the seller was still nowhere to be found, leading her to believe she was lost.

So she doubled back, and walked around the village for another hour. All the while covered with a black cloak and with her hair dyed black. The poor girl had only noticed after she left the carriage that she looked suspiciously like a Death Eater, and it didn't help that she kept walking quickly while anxiously looking around.

But at the same time they didn't have Death Eaters in France, so how was she to know. _Those stupid English idiots and their pure blood thingy. _In France, and everywhere else in the world, blood purity didn't matter, in fact it wasn't even a thing. Sure, there was discrimination on a lot of other things like wealth, race and gender. But when it came to magic you either have it or you don't, your parents didn't matter. The way they treated muggles however was a whole other matter.

Historically there were two types of doctrines in Europe, light or dark.

In France, Italy and Spain, the 'light' doctrine was employed. According to them muggles were like cattle, they were needed for agriculture and occasionally war. As such while they didn't have the same rights as wizards they weren't horribly mistreated.

However in central Europe, where no stable government ruled, conflicts were common and often the law of the jungle took over. The 'dark' doctrine was far more widespread. In those countries, muggles weren't considered 'people' or even 'cattle', they were just 'muggles'. While all of it had happened long before Fleur's time, she had heard how it was for muggles in central europe during the dark ages and whatever you're imagining, it was worse.

Then with the Statute of secrecy things died down, but the views remain similar. After all, Gellert Grindelwald could be considered a moderate when compared to some of his ancestors.

That said, Great Britain was remarkably progressive with the way they treated their muggles. The law against muggle baiting remained to this day the most extreme measure in the world when it came to muggle protection. Yet despite their great compassion for muggles, the British chose to prey on each other based on whose parents had magic... it made no sense to her.

Walking back to the meeting place again, she cursed the tiny alleys of Hogsmead. It made her miss the wide streets of Paris she used to loath. Just one more thing to add to the things she didn't like about this country, along with the food and the weather.

Coming from an old french family, Fleur didn't have a positive predisposition to anything British. Despite the current relatively close relations between their countries, the old french families hadn't forgotten past rivalries and a few were still quite resentful from the 'events' of 1815. Her great-grandfather would turn over in his grave if he knew she was dating an Englishman.

The young witch smiled fondly remembering some of her great-grandfather's rants about 'those damn Brits' and 'the war'.

Thought he never made it clear which war he was referring to, and up until she was 10 she believed he was talking about the hundred-year war, though in her defense her father used to joke that it was.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. Before she even realized what had happened, blue flames were everywhere. The ground began to emit smoke as the grass between the pavement instantly combusted and the stone walls surrounding them began to glow red. But most shockingly, the flesh of the hand holding her melted and the exposed bone began to crack from the heat. An earth wrenching scream accompanied the smell of burnt flesh.

"Wait! Wait! It's me!"

As the french girl recovered from her shock, the blue flames disappeared just as fast as they had appeared.

"Don't touch me!"

"You burnt my fucking hand off!"

"Hmpf. Consider yourself lucky, if I hadn't been distracted, you'd be ash right now."

She hated the way she sounded right now, but an accent charm had been essential to conceal her identity. Forget about her dating an Englishman, if her Great-Grandfather was still alive and heard her, he would have a heart attack.

"That better not have been fiendfyre..."

The man moaned while attempting a few healing spells. Fiendfyre burns were notoriously hard to treat, they required an experienced healer well versed in curse breaking and most of the time it was unrecoverable.

Veela flames were similar to fiendfyre in many ways. Fleur's flames had once been compared to the ultimate form of fiendfyre, which in living memory had only been achieved by Grindlewald. But the major divergence between Veela fire and fiendfyre was that Veela fire wasn't cursed.

That said, it was still magical fire and a burn treating ointment wouldn't do much.

"Fuck! It's not working! You used fiendfyre didn't you?!"

"No. You're just bad"

Discreetly waving hand, Fleur felt the magic in the burn return to her. When she was sure all the magic had left the burn, she cast a pain-relieving charm on the man's hand.

"There. Just put on some burn-healing paste on it and go buy a flesh regrowing potion. Do you have my stuff?"

"Yeah. But I really should charge you more because of this."

He argued while showing his charred hand.

Money wasn't a problem for Fleur, but she really didn't like people touching her and the guy was getting on her nerves.

"Right and I really should burn you to ash, so let's call it even."

Compared to some of the other men who tried their luck and attempted to touch her, the guy could be said to have gotten off lightly.

Snatching the box out of the guys hand, Fleur stormed off.

_Harry POV_

Tonight was the night, the full moon. It was finally time for his month of mandrake sucking to come to an end. The potion had been prepared in advance and the place he had chosen to complete the process was the shrieking shack. He had snuck out using his invisibility cloak and gotten to the shack using the passage beneath the whomping willow.

Currently he was setting up the storm summoning ritual he would need. The marauders had conducted extensive research into the matter and had to try numerous things before finding a ritual that worked and only required things that could be found at Hogwarts. These things included a rain dance which he would have loved to see.

Soon the ritual was ready, all he needed now was a direct ray of moonlight. Unfortunately, it was foggy and while the moon was visible the ray wasn't direct. If he didn't have the marauder's notes, he would have needed to start over and wouldn't be ready in time for the first task in two days. But he did have them and knew exactly what to do.

Harry raised his wand to the sky and shouted "Lok Vah Koor!"

In moments the fog dissipated, and a clear ray of moonlight shone on the boy's face. Harry reached into his mouth and retrieved the only remaining mandrake leaf; he had ended up swallowing another when he was running his tongue over it and the other had slipped out when he was trying to get a string of meat out of his teeth.

Making sure it received plenty of direct moonlight, Harry dropped the leaf into the potion and steered it until the leaf dissolved. He then walked to the ritual he had prepared, stepped in the middle of the circle, raised his wand to the sky and shouted "Strun Bah Qo!".

Within moments the sky began to darken and soon a downpour started, it wasn't long before thunder began to resound. Smiling to himself, Harry stepped out of the circle.

Going a safe distance away from the shack, he held his wand over his heart and whispered _"__Amato Animo Animato Animagus" before_ downing the potion in a single gulp.

**AN: Right, so I've been busy coupled with a strong lack of motivation / inspiration. That and stuff that made me not in the mood for romance writing, resulted in the chapter taking a while. But that said, I did keep my word of trying to make one a month so that's a win. Please rate and review, the cliffhanger is to let you speculate a bit on what his form is gonna be MOUAHAHAHAHA!**


	11. Chapter 9: The First Task

**AN: Hey I'm back! Sorry I skipped a month because of my internship and personal relationships which actually ended up giving me inspiration. Hopefully we should be back on track (fingers crossed). Enjoy!**

_Harry POV_

Harry slowly made his way to the champions' tent. He had taken take the long way around under the protection of his cloak in order to avoid his 'fans'. He wasn't oblivious to the rumors that he had fled, and while part of him wanted to stand proudly before them and defend his pride, the same fact that kept him locked in his room for the past two days held him back.

For Harry was still shaken to the core by the _thing _he had become. Regardless of the sheer terror it had inspired, the implications of it were what had struck him the core. He had spent the better part of the past two days focusing on controlling his new form merely to distract himself from thinking too deeply about it, and as a result, had made considerable progress.

Even as he was headed to what was possibly the most dangerous event he had ever faced; Harry didn't fear for himself. He feared for all the others. What could be considered reckless confidence by many, was in reality a testament to the boy's selflessness.

It wasn't long before Harry was in the tent. He cast off his cloak and quickly stuffed it in a bag he had brought. As no one had noticed him yet he simply sat on one of the beds and made sure he his glasses weren't falling off his nose. As he was battling the urge to clean a smudge off one of his lenses, he suddenly heard a low whistle from the side.

"Pst! Harry?"

Recognizing Hermione's voice he leaned towards the flap.

"Hermione?"

"Harry is that you? How are you feeling?"

"Terrified"

It wasn't a lie he told himself, after all he didn't specify that he was terrified of what hemight do.

"The key is to concentrate. Then you just have to…"

"Fight something I have no knowledge about…"

"WHAT?! Ron didn't tell you ?"

"Ron and I aren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment."

"That idiot! He promised me!"

"What do you mean?"

"Dragons, Harry. The first task is Dragons!"

"Oh... Wait, do the others know?"

"Is that the first thing that comes to your mind?!"

"Well maybe I should tell them."

Suddenly the flap was pushed aside, and he was hugged by his longtime friend.

_Flash_

"Ah young love!"

Harry turned to see Rita Skeeter and the photographer looking at them.

While everyone was stunned Harry stormed over to skeeter and dragged her outside behind the tent. After a quick privacy charm, Harry turned once more towards the reporter.

"What is wrong with you ?!"

"Right, so originally I came for some pre-game interviews. But then I saw you with the girl and realized it was a perfect way to make you more relatable and so…"

"What?"

Rita rolled her eyes.

"Haven't you read the papers?"

"I confess I haven't"

"You were right, people loved it. Or rather hated it, but in a good way"

"What do you mean?"

"The article I wrote dear boy! The wizarding world is outraged, the DMLE has opened an investigation into the tournament organization committee, multiple business have cut ties with the individuals you named, the minister issued a public apology, there were even protests in Diagon alley calling for the cancelation of the tournament. Even the board of Drumstrang is considering the removal of Igor Karkaroff."

"It had that big of an impact?"

"'That big of an impact'?! Dear boy, one of the most beloved individuals in the wizarding world publicly revealed a major plot involving the use of public resources to put children in harm's way! Some of the parents you named haven't come out of their wards since the article came out! For merlin's sake, Lucius Malfoy was close to getting lynched on his way to Gringotts!"

"..."

"If I were to write an article about the impact this has had on your personal life along with a moving photo of your girlfriend tearfully sending you off to the first task… I think we can expect rioting and mass resignations!"

"Wizards riot?!"

"Not often… I think the last one was during the Grindelwald wars. But when we do, we make Muggle riots seem tame."

"I never wanted for people to get hurt!"

"Oh don't worry as long as you make it through without any severe injury I'm pretty sure there won't be any deaths… probably."

"Pretty Sure?! Probably?!"

"Well there are many in the wizarding world who both idolize you and are very protective of you, so anything is possible."

"Wait what?!"

"Well as you have no parents and have been in the public eye for a long time, I would say there is a certain form of… attachment? No to mention many feel indebted and guilty due to both your accomplishment and what it cost you."

"Right, so now I have to pass the task without a single scratch, or the streets run red. Brilliant! Is-"

But Harry was interrupted by Hermione who suddenly popped out from a corner.

"It's starting!"

"Just don't agitate people any more than necessary."

Harry instructed hurriedly before rushing back into the tent.

When he arrived at the other Champions had already gathered around Crouch, with their respective headmasters standing behind them. Harry quickly joined the lineup with only Fleur noticing his late arrival.

"For the first task, each of you will have to recover a golden egg, this egg will provide curial information on how to proceed with the second task. Without this clue you will most certainly be unable to pass the second task."

Crouch paused to make sure everyone understood the objective. Seeing multiple nods, he continued.

"Of course, this will not be simple. Each egg will be guarded by a single dragon. To complete this task, you are allowed only your wand and physical abilities, thought I would advise against trying to wrestle a dragon."

Crouch paused once more, presumably expecting laughter which never came.

"Alright then."

Recovering from the earlier flop, he motioned to an attendant to hand him a bag.

"In this bag are miniature models of the dragons you will face along with a number to determine your order of passage. We will start with Miss. Delacour."

Fleur reached into the bag and drew a miniature Welsh Green with the number 2. Crouch then moved on to Cedric who drew a Swedish short-snout with the number 1 and then to Krum who Drew a Chinese fireball with the number 3. Soon it was Harry's turn.

As Harry reached into the bag, he didn't notice Fleur's anxious glance. He felt something spikey and tried to grab it without injuring himself, he eventually drew a small, mean looking black dragon.

"And number 4, the Hungarian horn-tail."

"Each of these represent four very real dragons, at the shot of the cano-"

*BLAM*

At the sudden canon shot, cheers and applause immediately sounded.

"-n… Right then, Mr. Diggory. Good luck."

Harry watched as Cedric entered the Arena, causing the crowd to go silent. He quickly noticed the very visible dragon laying upon a rock guarding the eggs among which shone the golden objective. With what was either sheer skill or a heavily practiced move, Cedric quickly transfigured a rock into a dog and sent it to distract the dragon.

Harry was very impressed at this; he had always been very good at transfiguration but even he struggled to turn inanimate objects into living beings. As Harry thought about copying Cedric's plan, the dragon suddenly snapped his head towards Cerdic who had gotten very close to the eggs and sent a burst of fire at him.

Cedric barely managed to doge, to the gasp of the crowd, but was left with a large burn on the side of his face. He grabbed the Egg and bolted for the exit, barely escaping a second burst.

_Looks like I won't be using that then…_

_Fleur POV_

As Fleur stepped into the arena, her mind wasn't on the green welsh she would be facing, it was on Harry. He had been very stressed and anxious these past few days and she knew he hadn't left his room. She had wanted to warn him about the dragons but had been unable to.

However, as the French witch had deduced his restlessness was probably due to finding out about the dragons and that his isolation was most certainly in order to find a way to beat them, she had chosen to respect his privacy.

This morning she had been very excited to see her mate again and show off her skills to him, but ever since her beloved had drawn the Hungarian horntail she had simply been overwhelmed with worry.

She was so focused on trying to find a way to help Harry beat the dragon she barely noticed the doors had opened and that she was now inside the arena and was only drought out of her thoughts by the roar of the Dragon she was to face.

Remembering her objective was to impress Harry she quickly focused her thoughts on defeating the dragon in the flashiest way she could think of. But while she went over her plan one last time the dragon snorted fire at her, however she simply swatted it away with a wave of blue flames much to the crowd's awe.

Drawing her wand, she cast a binding charm at the dragon's legs to distract it as she began walking towards it. Noticing the movement, the Welsh green breathed a long breath of fire at the Veela once more only for it to be stopped by a large ball of water that had been conjured by its target. The dragon briefly looked on curiously as the beautiful girl levitated a boulder and smashed it into the dragon's side, audibly cracking the hollow bones in its wings.

Enraged the dragon breathed the strongest fire it had ever breathed, aiming to evaporate any water ball used as a shield.

But instead of engulfing the Veela the flames halted at the tip of her wand and were compressed into a ball with the aid of her free hand.

After a few moments the dragon stop breathing flames and looked on in horror as the French witch raised the fireball into the air and released it sending a shock wave of energy that shattered multiple rocks. Calmly, Fleur raised her wand collecting all the pebbles into four floating clouds on all sides of the dragon, she then paused and suddenly lowered her wand towards the Dragon.

Instantly the floating pebbles soared towards the Welsh green, bombarding it continuously until even scales began to fall off revealing the flesh underneath. After a few seconds the barrage ended leaving the dragon stunned.

At this moment, Fleur made her move. She began running towards the dragon, agilely jumping over a tail sweep and leaping onto the dragon's broken wing, she bent her body to the side almost cartwheeling onto the beast's back. Jumping up to avoid getting shaken off, she then placed her palm onto a patch of exposed flesh from the earlier barrage and blasted her veela fire directly into the wound.

The Dragon's organs were instantly reduced to ashes as the fire melted passed the flesh and into the body with only the animal's sturdy bones and scales surviving the blast. Thought from the outside it simply looked as if the dragon glowed with a blue hue as a blast of blue flames erupted from its eyes and mouth.

The crowd exploded in applause and cheers as the French champion jumped off the dragon. Yet Fleur ignored all of that, she was focused on one thing only, the reaction of her beloved. _Please be impressed, please be impressed, pleased be impressed. _She checked finally focused on her bond and to her overwhelming joy, he was impressed.

She felt like dancing but was held back by the fact it would look very uncool. She walked up to the egg and lifted it up towards Harry with a radiant smile.

_Harry POV_

Harry had to admit he had not expected such power from the seemingly peaceful French girl, but he was easily just as impressed at the rest of the crowd. However, before he had time to contemplate once more why such a perfect person would have any interest in him, Krum stepped into the arena.

Much like Fleur, Krum decided to try a confrontational approach to the task. But rather than fight the dragon he chose to retrieve the egg right after blinding it, causing the energized crowd to boo at the champion's boring tactic. It was unusual for someone so used to putting on a spectacle to neglect showmanship so much.

Before long, it was Harry's turn.

After the sound of the cannon, loud cheers erupted as the crowd impatiently waited to see how the underdog would perform. But cheering soon died down when the enormous beast was brought in, the monstrously large animal was covered in spikes and bursts of flames erupted in between roars. It soon settled down close to the eggs, looking around menacingly.

It was then that Harry was made to step into the arena.

As Harry entered the arena the crowd fell silent, probably awaiting to see if he would survive or only be severely injured. The young wizard looked around curiously when suddenly a pillar of flame shot out from the dragon's mouth towards the youngest champion.

The crowd gasped averting their eyes from the horrific sight. But, in the absence of screams, they focused on the scene once more to see that the pillar had split, going to either side of its target as though running into an immovable obstacle.

When the flames stopped the dragon seemed both confused and angered at the sight of the pestering human. It began inhaling once more in order to repeat his attack.

Seeing the Dragon was about to breath its flames once more, Harry knew what he had to do. He raised his right hand towards the dragon to help him focus and murmured an apology.

"I'm very sorry for this, its my fault you have to be put through this."

In an instant the dragon froze, his body slowly began to turn to stone as spectators looked on confused. The boy-who-lived hurriedly went to get the golden egg and quickly got out of the arena, sighting in relief that no one had seen his eyes flash yellow.

**AN: Well I hope it was worth the wait! Im sure a lot of you have already guessed his Animagus form, but there is a twist (mouahahaha). Now before you say Fleur is OP, please note that I'm French so I may insert a lot of OP French characters and if a character comes along with a beret and a baguette, expect him to be a god (no Fleur's great-grandfather isn't modeled on my own… officially).**


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